offered no complete impediment to vision. As volition was in abeyance,

Page 131 of 172 THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA - Complete Poetical Works

the balls could not roll in their sockets--but all objects within the

range of the visual hemisphere were seen with more or less

distinctness; the rays which fell upon the external retina, or into

the corner of the eye, producing a more vivid effect than those which

struck the front or interior surface. Yet, in the former instance,

this effect was so far anomalous that I appreciated it only as

_sound_--sound sweet or discordant as the matters presenting

themselves at my side were light or dark in shade--curved or angular

in outline. The hearing, at the same time, although excited in degree,

was not irregular in action--estimating real sounds with an

extravagance of precision, not less than of sensibility. Touch had

undergone a modification more peculiar. Its impressions were tardily

received, but pertinaciously retained, and resulted always in the

highest physical pleasure. Thus the pressure of your sweet fingers

upon my eyelids, at first only recognized through vision, at length,

long after their removal, filled my whole being with a sensual delight

immeasurable. I say with a sensual delight. _All_ my perceptions were

purely sensual. The materials furnished the passive brain by the

senses were not in the least degree wrought into shape by the deceased

understanding. Of pain there was some little; of pleasure there was

much; but of moral pain or pleasure none at all. Thus your wild sobs

floated into my ear with all their mournful cadences, and were

appreciated in their every variation of sad tone; but they were soft

musical sounds and no more; they conveyed to the extinct reason no

intimation of the sorrows which gave them birth; while large and

constant tears which fell upon my face, telling the bystanders of a

heart which broke, thrilled every fibre of my frame with ecstasy

alone. And this was in truth the _Death_ of which these bystanders

spoke reverently, in low whispers--you, sweet Una, gaspingly, with

loud cries.

They attired me for the coffin--three or four dark figures which

flitted busily to and fro. As these crossed the direct line of my

vision they affected me as _forms;_ but upon passing to my side their

images impressed me with the idea of shrieks, groans, and, other

dismal expressions of terror, of horror, or of woe. You alone, habited

in a white robe, passed in all directions musically about.

The day waned; and, as its light faded away, I became possessed by a

vague uneasiness--an anxiety such as the sleeper feels when sad real

sounds fall continuously within his ear--low distant bell-tones,

Sex is like snow... You never know how many inches you're going to get or how long it will last.
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