It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another — it’s one damn
thing over & over — there’s the rub — first you get sick — then you get
sicker — then you get not quite so sick — then you get hardly sick at 
all — then you get a little sicker — then you get a lot sicker — then
you get not quite so sick — oh, hell

About the headline (FAQ)

A letter to Arthur Davison Ficke (October 24, 1930). Letter No. 171.

Text Authorship:

• by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, written 1930 [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):

• by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "To Arthur Davison Ficke", 1993, first performed 1995 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Letters from Edna -- 8 songs for Mezzo and Piano, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-22
Line count: 5
Word count: 75