by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
Elaine
Language: English
Oh, come again to Astolat! I will not ask you to be kind. And you may go when you will go, And I will stay behind. I will not say how dear you are, Or ask you if you hold me dear, Or trouble you with things for you The way I did last year. So still the orchard, Lancelot, So very still the lake shall be, You could not guess -- though you should guess -- What is become of me. So wide shall be the garden-walk, The garden-seat so very wide, You needs must think -- if you should think -- The lily maid had died. Save that, a little way away, I'd watch you for a little while, To see you speak, the way you speak, And smile, -- if you should smile.
Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "Elaine", appears in Second April, first published 1921 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Elaine", 1935, G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Constance Mills Herreshoff , "Elaine", published 1931 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-03
Line count: 20
Word count: 131