Monday, June 25, 2007

Summer Wanderlust

This poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay expresses my desire quite well, even if it's only sometimes a subconscious desire.

from DEPARTURE
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

It's little I care what path I take,
And where it leads it's little I care;
But out of this house, lest my heart break,
I must go, and off somewhere.

It's little I know what's in my heart,
What's in my mind it's little I know;
But there's that in me must up and start,
And it's little I care where my feet go. . . .

2 comments:

Admin said...

Every summer, I go to Camden, drive up Mt. Battie and look out over the harbor Millay looked out over when she wrote:
"All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked another way,
And saw three islands in a bay."
They're still there, the islands. The bay sparkles and the air smells like balsam. She was so different from most people of her time, so Bohemian and daring. It's a wonder to me that she was so successful at a time when women were expected to be modest and unassuming and - above all - conventional. Her wanderlust was more than a longing for other places. It was for another state of being.

Shine On,
Lill

Julia Buckley said...

Great point! Her poetry certainly speaks to me. You'll notice quotes from her sprinkled liberally throughout this blog.

How great that you can call up her words when you look at that harbor!