The Buckley School's founder believed that all public speakers should hone their presentation skills by reading poetry out loud. We keep that worthwhile practice alive by including a poem in our magazine each month for you to read aloud.
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh my friends--
It gives a lovely light!
-"First Fig" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Born in Rockland, Maine, in 1892, Edna St. Vincent Millay was winning awards for her poetry by the age of 14. In 1923, she became the third woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver."
Along with poems, Millay wrote plays and the libretto for an opera. Outspoken and independent, she was known for her ability to command audiences with her performances, which Nancy Milford describes in her biography of Millay, Savage Beauty.
Our May read aloud recalls Millay's time in New York City, when she was in her 20s and described her life as "very, very poor and very, very merry."
Recuerdo
BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable—
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.
We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed “Good morrow, mother!” to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, “God bless you!” for the apples and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.
Here's a recording of Edna St. Vincent Millay reading "Recuerdo":
