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by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)

Beauty
Language: English 
Think not, not for a moment let your mind,
Wearied with thinking, doze upon the thought
That the work's done and the long day behind,
And beauty, since 'tis paid for, can be bought.
If in the moonlight from the silent bough
[Suddenly]1 speak your name
The nightingale, be not assured that now
His wing is limed and his wild virtue tame.
Beauty beyond all feathers that have flown
Is free; you shall not hood her to your wrist,
Nor sting her eyes, nor have her for your own
In any fashion; beauty billed and kissed
Is not your turtle; tread her like a dove
She loves you not; she never heard of love.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Millay: "with precision"

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950) [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 John Mitchell (b. 1941), "Beauty", op. 50 no. 5 (1983), from Five Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay, no. 5. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 115

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