Epigraph: We are but farmers of ourselves ... John Donne
The story of a man's soul ... can be more interesting and instructive than the story of a whole nation ... Mikhail Lermontov
Author's note: A Note on the Selection ... The selection covers thirty years of periodical publication (1945-1974). The first of the books from which it is compiled appeared in 1954; and its new poems have not before been published in book form. ([2])