The deed took all my heart. I did not think of you, Not ’til the thing was done. I put my sword away And then no more the cold And perfect fury ran Along my narrow bones And then no more the black And dripping corridors Hold anywhere the shape That I had come to slay. Then for the first time, I saw in the cave’s belly The dark and clotted webs, The green and sucking pools, The rank and crumbling walls, The maze of passages. And I thought then Of the far earth, Of the spring sun And the slow wind, And a young girl, And I looked then At the white thread. Hunting the minotaur I was no common man And had no need of love. I trailed the shining thread Behind me, for a vow, And did not think of you. It lay there, like a sign, Coiled on the bull’s great hoof. And back into the world, Half blind with weariness I touched the thread and wept. O, it was frail as air, And I turned then With the white spool Through the cold rocks, Through the black rocks. Through the long webs, And the mist fell, An