I have never heard of this poet before, shame on me!
I think I should have loved you presently (Sonnet IX)I think I should have loved you presently,
And given in earnest words I flung in jest;
And lifted honest eyes for you to see,
And caught your hand against my cheek and breast;
And all my pretty follies flung aside
That won you to me, and beneath your gaze,
Naked of reticence and shorn of pride,
Spread like a chart my little wicked ways.
I, that had been to you, had you remained,
But one more waking from a recurrent dream,
Cherish no less the certain stakes I gained,
And walk your memory’s halls, austere, supreme,
A ghost in marble of a girl you knew
Who would have loved you in a day or two.
Edna St. Vincent
Edna St. Vincent Millay sounds a most interesting person; she was born in 1892 and brought up with her two sisters by her mother, a single parent having asked her husband to leave the family.
Edna, who called herself Vincent was a poet, playwrite, and active feminist. She was bisexual, had many love affairs with women, and although she did marry a man, they had an open marriage. She died tragically young in 1950.
Lois Elsden 
I was so struck by her poetry in my teens, read and reread her work, and hadn’t thought of her in years. Thanks for bringing her words back into my mind — it’s still haunting, isn’t it.
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It is indeed – have you nay particular recommendations of her other work? I really do only know this one, and it is a recent discover too!
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Sorry I haven’t any specific book titles in mind, it’s been so long. I do remember one very short poem she wrote: “My candle burns at both ends / It will not last the night / But ah my foes and oh my friends / It gives a lovely light” — rather shorter and more whimsical than much of her poetry! there’s also one I cannot quote at all, but about something most of us have experienced, she talks of feeling so relieved to find herself in a place where she has no memories of him (an unexplained him), and thenn of course being striken, because now she is thinking of him
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Hey! I do know those lines, but I could not have told you who wrote them! Thank you for explaining them – I’m definitely going to investigate her further!
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