And what are you that, wanting you,
I should be kept awake
As many nights as there are days
With weeping for your sake?

And what are you that, missing you,
As many days as crawl
I should be listening to the wind
And looking at the wall?

I know a man that's a braver man
And twenty men as kind,
And what are you, that you should be
The one man in my mind?

Yet women's ways are witless ways,
As any sage will tell, --
And what am I, that I should love
So wisely and so well?

Poet: Edna St. Vincent Millay
Poem: 19. The Philosopher
Volume: A Few Figs From Thistles
Year: Published/Written in 1921
Poem of the Day: Nov 16 2000

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