La Joie de Vivre (The Joy of Living)
Edna St. Vincent Millay, age 17
Camden High School Graduation Poem
'Tis good to be alive a day like this!
'Tis good to be alive! I will not miss
One joy from out the living; I will go
Through valleys low, where deep-set mountains throw
A shadow and a shelter from the heat,
In cool retreat where shall no city street.
Intrude its noise and scare the stillness sweet.
Deep draw I in my breath,
Deep drink of water cold;
There is no growing old,
There is no death.
The world and I are young!
Never on lips of man,
Never since time began,
Has gladder song been sung.
Youth in our hearts doth live,
And every day will he
His own society
For our lodging give.
Green are the fields and hills. and blue the sky;
Soft green and blue are pleasing to the eye,
And that is why
God made them so.
God doth the fancies of his children know.
If one is of such build
That he can be at ease
Among the fields and trees,
And yet can gild
His mind with thoughts of some far-beckoning goal;
Not his the praise
For the gladness of his days,
But God's, who made his even-balanced soul.
Ever since time began,
Bestowed at birth,
It is the gift of God to every man
To love the lovely earth.
It is thought right that we
Should find keen pleasure
In gazing on the sea,
And hold the land a treasure.
But well I know there be
Some poor, unhappy blind
Who no beauty there can see,
And who can no more find
God's peace beneath the trees
And on the sunny plain;
And well I know that these
Wish not their sight again.
But if in years to be
A time shall come to me,
Sometime within my life
When, bent by toil and strife,
I lift not up mine eyes,
And see no more Thy skies,
Then send Thine angel bright!
Take me from out the night
Into Thy holy light,
And there restore my sight.
'Tis good to be alive, but there is life
Whose home is not upon the earth I know.
But in a land where joyfulness is rife.
There sometime shall I go;
And I am glad with thinking it is so.
God of all things I love! Grant me this plea!
'Tis all I ask of Thee.
When old my body grows, when not so fleet
Upon the hillside go my tired feet,
Let not my heart grow old ! Oh, let it stay
As young as are the world and I today!
Published in The Megunticook (Camden High School yearbook) “Commencement Number,” 1909. Rediscovered by Jen Munson.
