In Memory of a Pixie named Larissa

Collected Poems                         To One Who Might Have Borne a Message


                         Had I known that you were going
                         I would have given you messages for her,
                         Now two years dead,
                         Whom I shall always love.

                         As it is, should she entreat you how it goes with me,
                         You must reply: as well as with most, you fancy;
                         That I love easily, and pass the time.

                          And she will not know how all day long between
                          My life and me her shadow intervenes,
                          A thin young girl,
                          Wearing a white skirt and a purple sweater
                           And a narrow pale blue ribbon about her hair.

                          I used to say to her, "I love you
                          Because your face is such a pretty color,
                          No other reason."

                          But it was not true.

                          Oh, had I only known that you were going,
                          I could have given you messages for her!

                                                                  Edna St. Vincent Millay
                                                                 

                          Dedicated to my daughter Larissa and  doctor who may have borne a
                          message...   Ten years missing her as of today.