Poems

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Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Three Songs Of Shattering

Three Songs Of Shattering

I

The first rose on my rose-tree
Budded, bloomed, and shattered,
During sad days when to me
Nothing mattered.…

429
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Wood Road

The Wood Road

If I were to walk this way
Hand in hand with Grief,
I should mark that maple-spray
Coming into leaf.
I should note how the old …

362
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Spring And The Fall

The Spring And The Fall

In the spring of the year, in the spring of the year,
I walked the road beside my dear.
The trees were black where the bark was w…

447
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The True Encounter

The True Encounter

"Wolf!" cried my cunning heart
At every sheep it spied,
And roused the countryside.


"Wolf! Wolf!"—and up would…

478
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Return From Town

The Return From Town

As I sat down by Saddle Stream
To bathe my dusty feet there,
A boy was standing on the bridge
Any girl would meet there.

363
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Singing-Woman From The Wood's Edge

The Singing-Woman From The Wood's Edge

What should I be but a prophet and a liar,
Whose mother was a leprechaun, whose father was a friar?
Teethed on a c…

358
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Plaid Dress

The Plaid Dress

Strong sun, that bleach
The curtains of my room, can you not render
Colourless this dress I wear?—
This violent plaid
O…

358
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Penitent

The Penitent

I had a little Sorrow,
Born of a little Sin,
I found a room all damp with gloom
And shut us all within;
And, "Little Sorrow, wee…

387
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Little Ghost

The Little Ghost

I knew her for a little ghost
That in my garden walked;
The wall is high—higher than most—
And the green gate was lock…

365
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Goose-Girl

The Goose-Girl

Spring rides no horses down the hill,
But comes on foot, a goose-girl still.
And all the loveliest things there be
Come simply, so, …

382
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Death Of Autumn

The Death Of Autumn

When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,
And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind
Like aged warriors westward, tr…

392
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Fawn

The Fawn

There it was I saw what I shall never forget
And never retrieve.
Monstrous and beautiful to human eyes, hard to

believe,
He la…

379
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Blue Flag in the Bog

The Blue Flag in the Bog

God had called us, and we came;
Our loved Earth to ashes left;
Heaven was a neighbor's house,
Open flung to us, bereft.

335
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Concert

The Concert

No, I will go alone.
I will come back when it's over.
Yes, of course I love you.
No, it will not be long.
Why may you not come wi…

396
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Tavern

Tavern


I'll keep a little tavern
Below the high hill's crest,
Wherein all grey-eyed people
May set them down and rest.

There shal…

362
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Bean-Stalk

The Bean-Stalk

Ho, Giant! This is I!
I have built me a bean-stalk into your sky!
La,—but it's lovely, up so high!


This is how I c…

345
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Spring

Spring


To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves openin…

420
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sorrow

Sorrow


Sorrow like a ceaseless rain

Beats upon my heart.
People twist and scream in pain,—
Dawn will find them still again;

322
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sonnets 12: Cherish You Then The Hope I Shall Forget

Sonnets 12: Cherish You Then The Hope I Shall Forget

Cherish you then the hope I shall forget
At length, my lord, Pieria?—put away
For your so pass…

292
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sonnets 10: Oh, My Beloved, Have You Thought Of This

Sonnets 10: Oh, My Beloved, Have You Thought Of This

Oh, my beloved, have you thought of this:
How in the years to come unscrupulous Time,
More cruel tha…

276
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sonnets 08: And You As Well Must Die, Beloved Dust

Sonnets 08: And You As Well Must Die, Beloved Dust

And you as well must die, beloved dust,
And all your beauty stand you in no stead;
This flawless, vita…

263
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sonnets 06: No Rose That In A Garden Ever Grew

Sonnets 06: No Rose That In A Garden Ever Grew

No rose that in a garden ever grew,
In Homer's or in Omar's or in mine,
Though buried under centuries of f…

294
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sonnets 04: Only Until This Cigarette Is Ended

Sonnets 04: Only Until This Cigarette Is Ended

Only until this cigarette is ended,
A little moment at the end of all,
While on the floor the quiet ashes …

254
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sonnets 02: Into The Golden Vessel Of Great Song

Sonnets 02: Into The Golden Vessel Of Great Song

Into the golden vessel of great song
Let us pour all our passion; breast to breast
Let other lovers lie,…

233