a very ecstacy

i was not more than eighteen

when an inner and esoteric meaning

began to come to me from all the visible universe,

and indefinable aspirations filled me.

i found them in the grass fields,

under the trees,

on the hill-tops,

at sunrise, and in the night.

there was a deeper meaning everywhere.

the sun burned with it,

the broad front of morning beamed with it;

a deep feeling entered me

while gazing at the sky in the azure noon,

and in the star-lit evening.

i was sensitive to all things,

to the earth under,

and the star-hollow round about;

to the least blade of grass,

to the largest oak.

they seemed like exterior nerves and veins

for the conveyance of feeling to me.

sometimes a very ecstasy of exquisite enjoyment

of the entire visible universe filled me.

i was aware that in reality

the feeling and the thought were in me,

and not in the earth or sun;

yet i was more conscious of it when in company with these.

words from richard jefferies' the story of my heart