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!
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