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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 42 by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHAT LIPS MY LIPS HAVE KISSED, AND WHERE, AND WHY
Last Line: A LITTLE WHILE, THAT IN ME SINGS NO MORE.
Subject(s): AGING; LOVE; LOVE - LOSS OF;

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts to-night, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply;
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain,
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone;
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.



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