Lament

Millay, Edna St. Vincent (1892 - 1950)

Original Text

Edna St. Vincent Millay, Second April (New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1921): 64-65. B-11 3143 Fisher Rare Book Library.

1Listen, children:

2Your father is dead.

3From his old coats

4I'll make you little jackets;

5I'll make you little trousers

6From his old pants.

7There'll be in his pockets

8Things he used to put there,

9Keys and pennies

10Covered with tobacco;

11Dan shall have the pennies

12To save in his bank;

13Anne shall have the keys

14To make a pretty noise with.

15Life must go on,

16And the dead be forgotten;

17Life must go on,

18Though good men die;

19Anne, eat your breakfast;

20Dan, take your medicine;

21Life must go on;

22I forget just why.

Publication Start Year

1921

Publication Notes

Published in Century

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

RPO 1998.