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by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)

Columbine
Language: English 
The light comes back with Columbine; she brings
A touch of this, a little touch of that,
Coloured confetti, and a favour hat,
Patches, and powder, dolls that work by strings
And moons that work by switches, all the things
That please a sick man's fancy, and a flat
Spry convalescent kiss, and a small pat
Upon the pillow, paper offerings.
The light goes out with her; the shadows sprawl.
Where she has left her fragrance like a shawl
I lie alone and pluck the counterpane,
Or on a dizzy elbow rise and hark
And down like dominoes along the dark
Her little silly laughter spills again!

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), "Columbine", op. 50 no. 2 (1983), from Five Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay, no. 2. [
     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: 107

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