I have never felt so overwhelmed in my 
eighteen summers. In it's entirety, 
I felt the spirit that poets so often thought 
of, which had enlightened the skeptics and mystified the wise. 
	I felt the flush that slowly spread, 
that I tried to hide with a slight bow; the distant pounding 
of the drums who had recognized the incoming attack.
	Too late.
	It came so suddenly and so silently that Lord Reason, 
which I had so relied on, had left me on the verge of collapse, 
leaving only enough sense to keep breathing.
	Irregular breaths all the  while.   
        In, out, in, in... drowning.
	FEAR.
	The smile that lit me up as he pronounced my name just 
the way I liked. Again, the Hesitations.
	The frown that darkened my eyes as he left.
	The covert glances, the unaffected facade that kept breaking, 
broken glass at my trembling limbs.
	Eager to stay... yet restless to go.
	A warmth that engulfed me.  Not thrills, not hormones 
nor childlike screams that had accompanied past loves, 
but a  fearful yet tranquil, unconditional affection for this creature.
	Overwhelmed and understated as before.