'Thou art not lovelier than lilacs,—no' by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Poetry

Thou art not lovelier than lilacs,—no

*Sonnet I from Renascence and Other Poems* by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1917)**

Thou art not lovelier than lilacs,—no, Nor honeysuckle; thou art not more fair Than small white single poppies,—I can bear Thy beauty; though I bend before thee, though From left to right, not knowing where to go, I turn my troubled eyes, nor here nor there Find any refuge from thee, yet I swear So has it been with mist,—with moonlight so. Like him who day by day unto his draught Of delicate poison adds him one drop more Till he may drink unharmed the death of ten, Even so, inured to beauty, who have quaffed Each hour more deeply than the hour before, I drink—and live—what has destroyed some men.

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