Literature Network » Edna St. Vincent Millay » Second April » Weeds

Weeds

White with daisies and red with sorrel
  And empty, empty under the sky!--
Life is a quest and love a quarrel--
  Here is a place for me to lie.
Daisies spring from damned seeds,
  And this red fire that here I see
Is a worthless crop of crimson weeds,
  Cursed by farmers thriftily.
But here, unhated for an hour,
  The sorrel runs in ragged flame,
The daisy stands, a bastard flower,
  Like flowers that bear an honest name.
And here a while, where no wind brings
  The baying of a pack athirst,
May sleep the sleep of blessed things,
  The blood too bright, the brow accurst.

Literature Network » Edna St. Vincent Millay » Second April » Weeds