Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

* * *

Your face is like a chamber where a king
Dies of his wounds, untended and alone,
Stifling with courteous gesture the crude moan
That speaks too loud of mortal perishing,
Rising on elbow in the dark to sing
Some rhyme now out of season but well known
In days when banners in his face were blown
And every woman had a rose to fling.
I know that through your eyes which look on me
Who stand regarding you with pitiful breath,
You see beyond the moment’s pause, you see
The sunny sky, the skimming bird beneath,
And, fronting on your windows hopelessly,
Black in the noon, the broad estates of Death.

1. The Wagon Stopped before the House
2. I Shall Go Back Again
3. She Let Them Leave Their Jellies
4. That Love at Length Should Find
5. I Pray You If You Love Me

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