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by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)

I still can see
Language: English 
I still can see
How you hastily and abstractedly flung down
To the floor,
Having raked it, arm after arm,
Over your head,
Your lustrous gown ;
And how, before
Its silken susurration had subsided,
We were as close together as it is possible for two people to be.

It was your maid, I think,
Who picked it up in the morning, while we lay
Still abed, exhausted by inexhaustible love ;
I saw her, I saw her through half closed eyes, kneel above it,
And smooth it, with a concerned hand, and a face full of 
	thoughtfulness.
Not that the dress
Was fragile,
Or had suffered harm,
But that you had planned
To walk in it, when you walked ashore ;
And our ship was getting minute by minute, more and more
Close to Tintagel.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), appears in Tristan [author's text not yet checked 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):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-14
Line count: 22
Word count: 133

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