By: Cary Briel, Skaneateles Design

“The Philosopher” – Edna St. Vincent Millay

And what are you that, wanting you,
I should be kept awake
As many nights as there are days
With weeping for your sake?

And what are you that, missing you,
As many days as crawl
I should be listening to the wind
And looking at the wall?

I know a man that’s a braver man
And twenty men as kind,
And what are you, that you should be
The one man on my mind?

Yet women’s ways are witless ways,
As any sage will tell,–
And what am I, that I should love
So wisely and so well?

Posted by: Cary Briel, Skaneateles Design

“Thursday” – Edna St. Vincent Millay

And if I loved you Wednesday,
Well, what is that to you?

I do not love you Thursday–
So much is true.

And why you come complaining
Is more than I can see.

I loved you Wednesday,–yes–but what
Is that to me?

Posted by: Cary Briel, Skaneateles Design

This poem my father recited to us from memory repeatedly when we were kids. The lines stick with me after all these years.

“The Agnostic” – Edna St. Vincent Millay

The tired agnostic longs for prayer
More than the blessed can ever do:
Between the chinks in his despair,
From out his forest he peeps through
Upon a clearing sunned so bright
He cups his eyeballs from its light. (more…)

Posted by: Cary Briel, Skaneateles Design

This poem makes me smile, laugh.

“The Penitent” – Edna St. Vincent Millay

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, weep,” said I,
“And, Little Sin, pray God to die,
And I upon the floor will lie
And think how bad I’ve been!”

Alas for pious planning —
It mattered not a whit!
As far as gloom went in that room,
The lamp might have been lit!
My Little Sorrow would not weep,
My Little Sin would go to sleep —
To save my soul I could not keep
My graceless mind on it!

So up I got in anger,
And took a book I had,
And put a ribbon on my hair
To please a passing lad.
And, “One thing there’s no getting by —
I’ve been a wicked girl,” said I;
“But if I can’t be sorry, why,
I might as well be glad!”