Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

She Let Them Leave Their Jellies

She let them leave their jellies at the door
And go away, reluctant, down the walk.
She heard them talking as they passed before
The blind, but could not quite make out their talk
For noise in the room--the sudden heavy fall
And roll of a charred log, and the roused shower
Of snapping sparks; then sharply from the wall
The unforgivable crowing of the hour.
One instant set ajar, her quiet ear
Was stormed and forced by the full rout of day:
The rasp of a saw, the fussy cluck and bray
Of hens, the wheeze of a pump, she needs must hear;
She inescapably must endure to feel
Across her teeth the grinding of a backing wagon
   wheel.

1. One Way There Was
2. Then Cautiously She Pushed
3. Not Over-Kind nor Over-Quick
4. The Wagon Stopped before the House
5. I Shall Go Back Again

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