Love
Evening on Lesbos
From The Buck in the Snow and Other Poems (1928)
Love
Twice having seen your shingled heads adorable
Side by side, the onyx and the gold,
I know that I have had what I could not hold.
Twice have I entered the room, not knowing she was here.
Two agate eyes, two eyes of malachite,
Twice have been turned upon me, hard and bright.
Whereby I know my loss.
Oh, not restorable
Sweet incense, mounting in the windless night!
Cite this poem
MLA
Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Evening on Lesbos.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/millay/176/.
Chicago
Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Evening on Lesbos.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/millay/176/.
Read this poem with the Codex →