When I started writing poems in high school, I discovered and fell in love with the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. I still have the book of her collected poems I received from my folks one Christmas. Here is an early poem of hers, and one my favorites, Ah, young love…
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable—
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.
We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed, “Good morrow, mother!” to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, “God bless you!” for the apples and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.
– Edna St, Vincent Millay
From A Few Figs From Thistles
What a delightful poem! Thanks for sharing it.
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what a very sweet poem – i’ve never heard it before and love it )
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always loved this one
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Thanks, everyone. I have another one I’ll share tonight. You can see why as a teenager I ate this stuff up!
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That was always a favorite of mine. It was included on an old LP of poets reading their poems that I used to listen to when I was a teenager, so I always hear her voice when I read it.
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She has several recordings of her poems on You Tube. I really enjoy listening to how a poet reads his or her own poems. I always hear an emphasis that I had missed.
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