Exultant in his youth.

So, on and ever on,

Scarce knowing why I ran--

Enough for me to feel

Earth beaten back behind my heels,

And hear the loud air singing

The blood-song in my ears:

Till, stumbling headlong over

An unseen, fallen branch,

I rolled in a deep bed of withered leaves;

And lay, full-length in shuddering ecstasy

Of hot, tumultuous blood that rioted

Through every throbbing vein.

But when again, I breathed more easily,

And my wild, fluttering heart kept slower beat,

Hot-foot, my thoughts ran, wondering, backward:

And I arose and followed them

With swift and stealthy pace,

Until I reached the stream.

Along the bank I stole with wary step,

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