VI

<title>VI</title>
<h1>VI</h1>
<pre>
No rose that in a garden ever grew,
  In Homer’s or in Omar’s or in mine,
  Though buried under centuries of fine
  Dead dust of roses, shut from sun and dew
  Forever, and forever lost from view,
  But must again in fragrance rich as wine
  The grey aisles of the air incarnadine
  When the old summers surge into a new.
  Thus when I swear, “I love with all my heart,”
  ’Tis with the heart of Lilith that I swear,
  ’Tis with the love of Lesbia and Lucrece;
  And thus as well my love must lose some part
  Of what it is, had Helen been less fair,
  Or perished young, or stayed at home in Greece.

        Edna St. Vincent Millay
</pre>