From her debut in _St. Nicholas_ to the end of her life, virtually all of Millay’s work appeared first in periodicals, so that for tracing its chronology Yost’s bibliography of 1937 is invaluable. From this we know that “Interim,” her first poem of variant significance, was written in 1912 along with the better known “Renascence.” “Interim” is a threnody which at least two critics[52] have meticulously insisted is the product of pure imagination, since no one intimately known to the poet had died when she wrote it. It is possible, however, to suffer tragic loss through separation, especially when young, and every homely and poignant detail of “Interim” speaks of immediate experience. One passage near the middle needs particular attention: ... That day you picked the first sweet pea— I know, you held it up for me to see And flushed because I looked not at the flower But at your face; and when behind my look You saw such unmistakable intent You laughed and brushed your flower against my lips (You were the fairest thing God ever made I think). And then your hands above my heart Drew down its stem into a fastening And while your head was bent I kissed your hair. I wonder if you knew ... ... If only God Had let us love—and show the world the way! Strange cancellings must ink th’eternal books When love-crossed-out will bring the answer right![53] The experience described here obviously involved another woman, and remained unconsummated. Like Hille and Rilke, the poet feels such love to be potentially the most perfect in the world; but, unlike them, she sees perfection only in completion, not in abstinence. Furthermore, the last two quoted lines have a kind of classroom echo, as of discipline by some harsher agent than the deity of “God’s World.”