- The summer of 1914 is when Vladimir first falls in love with writing poetry.
- One day, he sat in a pavilion at Vyra, waiting out a thunderstorm.
- Still, Nabokov mentions, he dreams of this pavilion—at least twice a year.
- The rain passes and the grounds of Vyra have been transformed into glittering lakes, and the sun's light reflects everywhere.
- Then the beginning of the poem comes to him, based on the image of "the sheer weight of a raindrop, shining in parasitic luxury on a cordate leaf." ("Cordate" means "heart-shaped" and now you have a good word to pull out on Valentine's Day.) (11.1.5)
- As the leaf bends with the weight of the water droplet, Vladimir begins to write the poem's first stanza in his head.