I looked in my heart [while]1 the wild swans went over. And what did I see I had not seen before? Only a question less or a question more: Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying. Tiresome heart, forever living and dying, House without air, I leave you and lock your door. Wild swans, come over the town, come over The town again, trailing your legs and crying!
Five Millay Songs
Song Cycle by H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932)
1. Wild Swans  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), appears in Second April, first published 1921
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Steele: "when"
Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago
2. Branch by Branch  [sung text checked 1 time]
Branch by branch This tree has died. Green only Is one last bough, moving its leaves in the sun. What evil ate its root, what blight, What ugly thing, Let the mole say, the bird sing; Or the white worm behind the shedding bark Tick in the dark. You and I have only one thing to do: Saw the trunk through.
Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in Huntsman, What Quarry?, in Not So Far as the Forest, no. 2, first published 1933
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , "Ast um Ast", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems, edited by Norma Millay, New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, [1956], page 336.
Note: The following individuals provided invaluable help in determining when this poem was first published: Brenda Wiard of 2neat.com, Janet Hughes from the library of Pennsylvania State University, and particularly Kristi Addleman Ritter, also from the from the library of Pennsylvania State University. Their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
3. For you there is no song  [sung text checked 1 time]
For you there is no song, Only the shaking of the voice that meant to sing, The sound of the strong voice breaking. Strange in my hand appears the pen, And yours broken There are ink and tears on the page. Only the tears have spoken.
Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), appears in Huntsman, What Quarry?, first published 1939
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. The return from town  [sung text not yet checked]
As I sat down by Saddle Stream To bathe my dusty feet there, A boy was standing on the bridge Any girl would meet there. As I went over Woody Knob And dipped into the Hollow, A youth was coming up the hill Any maid would follow. Then in I turned at my own gate, - And nothing to be sad for - To such a man as any wife Would pass a pretty lad for.
Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), appears in The Harp-Weaver and other poems
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry5. Gone Again is Summer the Lovely  [sung text not yet checked]
Gone, gone again is Summer the lovely, She that knew not where to hide Is gone again like a jewelled fish from the hand, Is lost on ev'ry side. Mute, mute I make my way to the garden, Thither where she last was seen; The heavy foot of the frost is on the flags there Where her light step has been. Gone, gone again is Summer the lovely, Gone again on ev'ry side, Lost again, like a shining fish from the hand Into the shadowy tide.
Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "Song", appears in The Buck in the Snow, first published 1928
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry