'(Then) nothing can hurt him'

 

“Let us forget such words, and all they mean, as Hatred, Bitterness and Rancor, Greed, Intolerance, Bigotry; let us renew our faith and pledge to Man, his right to be Himself, and free.” – Edna St. Vincent Millay.

 

Born in Maine on Feb. 22, 1892, St. Vincent Millay won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry – only the third woman to win the award in that category – in 1923.  And just to show that she wasn’t a “one hit wonder,” she won the Frost Medal for her lifetime contribution to American poetry 20 years later.  

 

In between, she wrote plays, prose and many, many great poems earning accolades from many other writers, including fellow poet Richard Wilbur who noted,  “She wrote some of the best sonnets of the century.”

 

“A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down,” she said.  “If it is a good book nothing can hurt him.  If it is a bad book nothing can help him.”  

 

Here is one of Millay’s terrific poems,

 

Afternoon on a hill

I will be the gladdest thing
   Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
   And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
   With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
   And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show
   Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
   And then start down.