Edna St. Vincent Millay is speaking for me right now.
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely.
Crowned with lilies and with laurel they go: but I am not resigned.Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains–but the best is lost.The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,–
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.
3 comments
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March 13, 2012 at 9:50 am
John A Arkansawyer
This was my song last week. It’s still posted on my office door.
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March 13, 2012 at 10:36 am
Amy Zucker Morgenstern
I’m sorry to hear it, John. Have you lost someone?
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March 28, 2012 at 2:21 pm
PeaceBang
Beautiful. Somewhat bizarre to have a Dove armpit commercial on this page with it, though… ! 🙂 Wow, I can’t see the ads on my own page, so these things escape me. Not the best combination in this case. –AZM
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