Edna St. Vincent Millay - Only Until This Cigarette Is Ended

Only Until This Cigarette Is Ended

* * *

Only until this cigarette is ended,
A little moment at the end of all,
While on the floor the quiet ashes fall,
And in the firelight to a lance extended,
Bizarrely with the jazzing music blended,
The broken shadow dances on the wall,
I will permit my memory to recall
The vision of you, by all my dreams attended.
And then adieu, farewell! the dream is done.
Yours is a face of which I can forget
The color and the features, every one,
The words not ever, and the smiles not yet;
But in your day this moment is the sun
Upon a hill, after the sun has set.

Sonnets 04: Only Until This Cigarette Is Ended by Edna St. Vincent Millay




The Dream by Edna St. Vincent Millay

* * *
Love, if I weep it will not matter,
And if you laugh I shall not care;
Foolish am I to think about it,
But it is good to feel you there.

Love, in my sleep I dreamed of waking,
White and awful the moonlight reached
Over the floor, and somewhere, somewhere
There was a shutter loose- it screeched!

Swung in the wind- and no wind blowing-
I was afraid and turned to you,
Put out my hand to you for comfort-
And you were gone! Cold as the dew,

Under my hand the moonlight lay!
Love, if you laugh I shall not care,
But if I weep it will not matter-
Ah, it is good to feel you there.


*  * *
ScrollingI am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.
  'Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it.'..

Edna St. Vincent Millay
 (Millay ( 1892 – 1950) was an American poet and feminist.)