She once promised to answer her beloved’s call with the same heart she’d had as a girl — willing to drop everything, her flowers or a game, and run to him with a smile. But now, life’s worries and disappointments have left her feeling perplexed, ruffled; the promise seems empty. When she hears him now, she sets aside a grave thought or breaks out of solitude rather than child’s play. Yet her heart still goes to him, only with a difference: he has become not merely one good thing but the sum of all goodness in her life. She asks him to touch her chest and feel that no running foot could match the speed of this blood — the rush of a whole, adult love, intimate and total. The mood is tender and reflective, yet fierce in its quiet intensity.
Sonnet 34 - With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee — Summary
With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee As those, when thou shalt call me by my name— Lo, the vain promise! is the same, the same, Perplexed and ruffled by life's strategy? When called before, I told how hastily I dropped my flowers or brake off from a game, To run and answer with the smile that came At play last moment, and went on with me Through my obedience. When I answer now, I drop a grave thought, break from solitude; Yet still my heart goes to thee—ponder how— Not as to a single good, but all my good! Lay thy hand on it, best one, and allow That no child's foot could run fast as this blood.