Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950). Renascence and Other Poems. 1917.

20. “Mindful of you the sodden earth in spring”

Sonnet III

MINDFUL of you the sodden earth in spring,

And all the flowers that in the springtime grow,

And dusty roads, and thistles, and the slow

Rising of the round moon, all throats that sing

The summer through, and each departing wing,

And all the nests that the bared branches show,

And all winds that in any weather blow,

And all the storms that the four seasons bring.

You go no more on your exultant feet

Up paths that only mist and morning knew,

Or watch the wind, or listen to the beat

Of a bird’s wings too high in air to view,—

But you were something more than young and sweet

And fair,—and the long year remembers you.