{"id":40,"date":"2020-05-28T12:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T12:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/28\/a-poem-for-thursday-83\/"},"modified":"2020-10-26T20:41:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T20:41:16","slug":"a-poem-for-thursday-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/28\/a-poem-for-thursday-83\/","title":{"rendered":"A Poem for a Thursday #83"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

Edna St. Vincent Millay is one of my favorite poets. I have loved her poems from long before I started this poetry series. She has been featured at least three times before (here,<\/a> here<\/a>, and here<\/a>) and I am sure I will feature her again in the future.<\/p>\n

Ah, could I lay me down in this long grass<\/i>
\nAnd close my eyes, and let the quiet wind<\/i>
\nBlow over me–I am so tired, so tired<\/i>
\nOf passing pleasant places! All my life,<\/i>
\nFollowing Care along the dusty road,<\/i>
\nHave I looked back at loveliness and sighed;<\/i>
\nYet at my hand an unrelenting hand<\/i>
\nTugged ever, and I passed. All my life long<\/i>
\nOver my shoulder have I looked at peace;<\/i>
\nAnd now I fain would lie in this long grass<\/i>
\nAnd close my eyes.<\/i>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Yet onward!<\/i>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cat birds call<\/i>
\nThrough the long afternoon, and creeks at dusk<\/i>
\nAre guttural. Whip-poor-wills wake and cry,<\/i>
\nDrawing the twilight close about their throats.<\/i>
\nOnly my heart makes answer. Eager vines<\/i>
\nGo up the rocks and wait; flushed apple-trees<\/i>
\nPause in their dance and break the ring for me;<\/i>
\nDim, shady wood-roads, redolent of fern<\/i>
\nAnd bayberry, that through sweet bevies thread<\/i>
\nOf round-faced roses, pink and petulant,<\/i>
\nLook back and beckon ere they disappear.<\/i>
\nOnly my heart, only my heart responds.<\/i>
\nYet, ah, my path is sweet on either side<\/i>
\nAll through the dragging day,–sharp underfoot<\/i>
\nAnd hot, and like dead mist the dry dust hangs–<\/i>
\nBut far, oh, far as passionate eye can reach,<\/i>
\nAnd long, ah, long as rapturous eye can cling,<\/i>
\nThe world is mine:\u00a0 blue hill, still silver lake,<\/i>
\nBroad field, bright flower, and the long white road<\/i>
\nA gateless garden, and an open path:<\/i>
\nMy feet to follow, and my heart to hold.\u00a0<\/i>
\n
\n<\/i>
\nJourney\u00a0<\/i>
\nEdna St. Vincent Millay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edna St. Vincent Millay is one of my favorite poets. I have loved her poems from long before I started this poetry series. She has been featured at least three times before (here, here, and here) and I am sure I will feature her again in the future. Ah, could I lay me down in this long grass And close my eyes, and let the quiet wind Blow over me–I am so tired, so tired Of passing pleasant places! All my life, Following Care along the dusty road, Have I looked back at loveliness and sighed; Yet at my hand an unrelenting hand Tugged ever, and I passed. All my life long Over my shoulder have I looked at peace; And now I fain would lie in this long grass And close my eyes. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Yet onward! \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cat birds call Through the long afternoon, and creeks at dusk Are guttural. Whip-poor-wills wake and cry, Drawing the twilight close about their throats. Only my heart makes answer. Eager vines Go up the rocks and wait; flushed apple-trees Pause in their dance and break the ring for me; Dim, shady wood-roads, redolent of fern And bayberry, that through sweet bevies thread Of round-faced roses, pink and petulant, Look back and beckon ere they disappear. Only my heart, only my heart responds. Yet, ah, my path is sweet on either side All through the dragging day,–sharp underfoot And hot, and like dead mist the dry dust hangs– But far, oh, far as passionate eye can reach, And long, ah, long as rapturous eye can cling, The world is mine:\u00a0 blue hill, still silver lake, Broad field, bright flower, and the long white road A gateless garden, and an open path: My feet to follow, and my heart to hold.\u00a0 Journey\u00a0 Edna St. Vincent Millay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poem-for-a-thursday"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}