Pages

8 Oct: "I Shall Forget You Presently, My Dear" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

I shall forget you presently, my dear,
So make the most of this, your little day,
Your little month, your little half a year,
Ere I forget, or die, or move away,
And we are done forever; by and by
I shall forget you, as I said, but now,
If you entreat me with your loveliest lie
I will protest you with my favorite vow.
I would indeed that love were longer-lived,
And vows were not so brittle as they are,
But so it is, and nature has contrived
To struggle on without a break thus far,
Whether or not we find what we are seeking
Is idle, biologically speaking.

1 comment:

  1. The loveliest lie and favorite vow, what a partnership.

    Sonnets trip me out. How do they come to make sense? I guess English had plenty of options and words. But this poem is so cool. The voice of the narrator adds to the failed doomed relationship. The ending is the best part, all the problems and it does not even matter biologically.

    ReplyDelete