Two poems from The Meginticook
Edna St. Vincent Millay, age 15
Homing
Homing bird and homing bee;
Nest and hive in the apple tree;
Sweet song, sweet honey,—but sweeter to me
The homing.
Nest where two crooked branches meet;
Hive in the hollow trunk’s retreat;
Sweet song, sweet honey,—but far more sweet
The homing.
You who drowse on the weary wing,
You who sleepily, sleepily sing;
Tell me, sweeter is anything
Than homing?
[Life is an Imitation]
Life is an imitation. We are born,
We live, we die;—and do no more, no less
Than all have done before.
To us is given
The living only; that at least is ours
To do with as we please; and let it be
Our constant care to make that living such
That, when we die, it will be deemed more worthy
Of further imitation.
Both poems first appeared in The Megunticook (Camden High School Yearbook), April 1908, and were published in St. Nicholas magazine, 1908. Transcribed by Jen Munson.
