Early March , gray , quiet skies , and brown , quiet earth ; leafless and sad and lonely enough out there in the damp and silence , yet there I stood feeling the same rapture of pure delight delight in the first breath breath of spring that I used to as a child , and the five wasted years fell fall from me like a cloak , and the world was full of hope , and I vowed vow myself then and there to nature , and have been happy ever since .