Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

* * *

If to be left were to be left alone,
And lock the door and find one’s self again —
Drag forth and dust Penates of one’s own
That in a corner all too long have lain;
Read Brahms, read Chaucer, set the chessmen out
In classic problem, stretch the shrunken mind
Back to its stature on the rack of thought —
Loss might be said to leave its boon behind.
But fruitless conference and the interchange
With callow wits of bearded cons and pros
Enlist the neutral daylight, and derange
A will too sick to battle for repose.
Neither with you nor with myself, I spend
Loud days that have no meaning and no end.

1. The Courage That My Mother Had
2. The Heart Once Broken Is a Heart No More
3. Apostrophe to Man
4. Scrub
5. When We Are Old And These Rejoicing Veins

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