The Betrothal

Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)



Oh, come, my lad, or go, my lad,
   And love me if you like.
   I shall not hear the door shut
   Nor the knocker strike.  
   Oh, bring me gifts or beg me gifts,
   And wed me if you will.
   I'd make a man a good wife,
   Sensible and still.  
   And why should I be cold, my lad,
  And why should you repine,
  Because I love a dark head
  That never will be mine?  

  I might as well be easing you
  As lie alone in bed
  And waste the night in wanting
  A cruel dark head.  

  You might as well be calling yours
  What never will be his,
  And one of us be happy.
  There's few enough as is.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

36 sec read
114

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXBXCXCADED XEXE XFXF
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 600
Words 120
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 12, 4, 4

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and playwright. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her feminist activism more…

All Edna St. Vincent Millay poems | Edna St. Vincent Millay Books

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