Here the speaker imagines a lover in a daydream, and the whole scene is built from nature. Foxes, rivers, herons, and mist stand in for the person's mouth, brow, and breath, so the body becomes a wild place that the speaker moves through. The "blue morning fantasies" of the opening suggest a half-awake state, where longing and imagination blur together.
The feeling is intense physical desire, mixed with a little danger. Words like "stalk," "hunted," and "cunning" give the attraction a predatory edge, while "shuddering" and "heaving" show how overwhelming it is. The mood is sensual, dreamlike, and restless, with the slashes breaking the lines into short, breathless pieces. At the end, the "bright day breaks," which suggests that the fantasy reaches a peak just as morning arrives. The title, "First Blush," fits that mix of embarrassment, newness, and heat. Overall, the poem is less about a story than about a sensation, with desire felt as something instinctive and almost animal.