by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)

Language: English 
Our translations:  GER
I shall forget you presently, my dear,
So make the most of this, your little day,
Your little month, your little half a year,
Ere I forget, or die, or move away,
And we are done forever; by and by
I shall forget you, as I said, but now,
If you entreat me with your loveliest lie
I will protest you with my favorite vow.
I would indeed that love were longer-lived,
And oaths were not so brittle as they are,
But so it is, and nature has contrived
To struggle on without a break thus far, --
Whether or not we find what we are seeking
Is idle, biologically speaking.

Composition:

    Set to music by Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), "I shall forget you", 1990 [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Wasting the Night, no. 3, Scott Wheeler Music

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Ich werd' Dich bald vergessen, teurer Schatz", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 111