I Have Walked Forward Eagerly to-Day

I HAVE walked forward eagerly to-day.
Each moment met my wits as foil meets foil
With lordly thrust and courteous counter-play
And quiet humor after each recoil;
Hour after hour came towards me as a sword
Whose point my own blade found and turned aside,
Leaving my faculties in smooth accord
And courage running through me like a tide.

Then, as the sun left and the silence came,
The stillness in my room confronted me
Like a last swordsman in a kingly game
Before whose skill my blade broke, suddenly;
And all the hours until our hands should meet
Surrounded me like ruffians in the street.