225

As he turned away from me I felt
Myself fall back from the room
Until I was some distance from it
    In the darkness. I could see
    The interior, lit as if of itself,
Hanging in the emptiness like a great 
Fire-balloon sent up into the night.
No stars were visible beyond the
Lighted place: it was as if making
My way on foot through the deep
Country during the darkest hours
Of night I had come upon a dim
    Garden, at the end of which
Lay a broad window and inside a
Bright scene to which I nonetheless
Could have no access : a glow
Touching the flowers and falling,
Diminished, before my weary feet.
    I felt as far from my birth as
At any time in my life, as I watched
My child-projection grow smaller
And less distinct, as I watched the
Steady light of my old bedroom
Recede into an enveloping dark.

As the room became no more
            Than a point of light, I felt
A tremor in the air around me—