Edna St. Vincent Millay




Sonnet 177

Felicity of Grief! — even Death being kind,
Reminding us how much we dared to love!
There, once, the challenge lay, — like a light glove
Dropped as through carelessness — easy to find
Means and excuse for being somewhat blind
Just at that moment; and why bend above,
Take up, such certain anguish for the mind?
Ah, you who suffer now as I now do,
Seeing, of Life's dimensions, not one left
Save Time — long days somehow to be lived through:
Think — of how great a thing were you bereft
That it should weigh so now! — and that you knew
Always, its awkward contours, and its heft.