THE HARP-WEAVER AND OTHER POEMS BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON BY THE SAME AUTHOR RENASCENCE AND OTHER POEMS A FEW FIGS FROM THISTLES SECOND APRIL THREE PLAYS ARIA DA CAPO TWO SLATTERNS AND A KING THE LAMP AND THE BELL THE KING’S HENCHMAN TO MY MOTHER CONTENTS PART ONE MY HEART BEING HUNGRY AUTUMN CHANT NUIT BLANCHE THREE SONGS FROM THE LAMP AND THE BELL THE WOOD ROAD FEAST SOUVENIR SCRUB THE GOOSE-GIRL THE DRAGONFLY PART TWO DEPARTURE THE RETURN FROM TOWN A VISIT TO THE ASYLUM THE SPRING AND THE FALL THE CURSE KEEN THE BETROTHAL HUMORESQUE THE POND THE BALLAD OF THE HARP-WEAVER PART THREE NEVER MAY THE FRUIT BE PLUCKED THE CONCERT HYACINTH TO ONE WHO MIGHT HAVE BORNE A MESSAGE SIEGE THE CAIRN SPRING SONG MEMORY OF CAPE COD PART FOUR SONNETS IV-I WHEN YOU, THAT AT THIS MOMENT IV-II THAT LOVE AT LENGTH SHOULD FIND IV-III LOVE IS NOT BLIND IV-IV I KNOW I AM BUT SUMMER IV-V I PRAY YOU IF YOU LOVE ME IV-VI PITY ME NOT IV-VII SOMETIMES WHEN I AM WEARIED IV-VIII OH, OH, YOU WILL BE SORRY IV-IX HERE IS A WOUND IV-X I SHALL GO BACK AGAIN IV-XI SAY WHAT YOU WILL IV-XII WHAT’S THIS OF DEATH IV-XIII I SEE SO CLEARLY IV-XIV YOUR FACE IS LIKE A CHAMBER IV-XV THE LIGHT COMES BACK IV-XVI LORD ARCHER, DEATH IV-XVII LOVING YOU LESS THAN LIFE IV-XVIII I, BEING BORN A WOMAN IV-XIX WHAT LIPS MY LIPS HAVE KISSED IV-XX STILL WILL I HARVEST BEAUTY IV-XXI HOW HEALTHILY THEIR FEET IV-XXII EUCLID ALONE HAS LOOKED PART FIVE SONNETS FROM AN UNGRAFTED TREE V-I SO SHE CAME BACK V-II THE LAST WHITE SAWDUST V-III SHE FILLED HER ARMS WITH WOOD V-IV THE WHITE BARK WRITHED V-V THE WAGON STOPPED BEFORE THE HOUSE V-VI THEN CAUTIOUSLY SHE PUSHED V-VII ONE WAY THERE WAS V-VIII SHE LET THEM LEAVE THEIR JELLIES V-IX NOT OVER-KIND NOR OVER-QUICK V-X SHE HAD FORGOTTEN V-XI IT CAME INTO HER MIND V-XII TENDERLY, IN THOSE TIMES V-XIII FROM THE WAN DREAM V-XIV SHE HAD A HORROR V-XV THERE WAS UPON THE SILL V-XVI THE DOCTOR ASKED HER V-XVII GAZING UPON HIM NOW PART ONE MY HEART, BEING HUNGRY My heart, being hungry, feeds on food The fat of heart despise. Beauty where beauty never stood, And sweet where no sweet lies I gather to my querulous need, Having a growing heart to feed. It may be, when my heart is dull, Having attained its girth, I shall not find so beautiful The meagre shapes of earth, Nor linger in the rain to mark The smell of tansy through the dark. AUTUMN CHANT Now the autumn shudders In the rose’s root. Far and wide the ladders Lean among the fruit. Now the autumn clambers Up the trellised frame, And the rose remembers The dust from which it came. Brighter than the blossom On the rose’s bough Sits the wizened, orange, Bitter berry now; Beauty never slumbers; All is in her name; But the rose remembers NUIT BLANCHE