Page 84 - a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man

the title of the verses he was trying to write: To E— C—. He
knew it was right to begin so for he had seen similar titles
in the collected poems of Lord Byron. When he had written
this title and drawn an ornamental line underneath he fell
into a daydream and began to draw diagrams on the cover
of the book. He saw himself sitting at his table in Bray the
morning after the discussion at the Christmas dinner table,
trying to write a poem about Parnell on the back of one of
his father’s second moiety notices. But his brain had then
refused to grapple with the theme and, desisting, he had
covered the page with the names and addresses of certain
of his classmates:

Roderick Kickham
John Lawton
Anthony MacSwiney
Simon Moonan

Now it seemed as if he would fail again but, by dint of
brooding on the incident, he thought himself into con-
fidence. During this process all those elements which he
deemed common and insignificant fell out of the scene.
There remained no trace of the tram itself nor of the tram-
men nor of the horses: nor did he and she appear vividly.
The verses told only of the night and the balmy breeze and
the maiden lustre of the moon. Some undefined sorrow
was hidden in the hearts of the protagonists as they stood
in silence beneath the leafless trees and when the moment
of farewell had come the kiss, which had been withheld by

84 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man