في السطور الأولى من هذه القصيدة يبدأ المتحدث بوصف بلغة بسيطة للغاية الطفل الذي فقد كرة يلعب بها، سرعان ما يتضح أنّ هذه الكرة لم تكن شيئًا بسيطًا يمكن استبداله،
,He was reading late, at Richard's, down in Maine
,aged 32? Richard & Helen long in bed
.my good wife long in bed
,All I had to do was strip & get into my bed
.Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so
,After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns
,we ourselves flash and yearn
and moreover my mother told me as a boy
There sat down, once, a thing on Henry's heart
só heavy, if he had a hundred years
more, & weeping, sleepless, in all them time&
.Henry could not make good
