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by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)

Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow!
Language: English 
Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow!
Faithless am I save to love's self alone.
Were you not lovely I would leave you now:
After the feet of beauty fly my own.
Were you not still my hunger's rarest food,
And water ever to my wildest thirst,
I would desert you -- think not but I would! --
And seek another as I sought you first.
But you are mobile as the veering air,
And all your charms more changeful than the tide,
Wherefore to be inconstant is no care:
I have but to continue at your side.
So wanton, light and false, my love, are you,
I am most faithless when I most am true.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in A Few Figs from Thistles, first published 1920 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Jay Poûhe (b. 1935), "Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow!", published 1971 [ medium voice and piano ], from The Amorous Line, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 116

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