POETRY // Old Friends

We Talk Of Taxes, And I Call You Friend

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

EXCERPT //

We talk of taxes, and I call you friend;

Well, such you are, —but well enough we know

How thick about us root, how rankly grow

Those subtle weeds no man has need to tend,

That flourish through neglect, and soon must send

Perfume too sweet upon us and overthrow

Our steady senses; how such matters go

We are aware, and how such matters end.

Yet shall be told no meagre passion here;

With lovers such as we forevermore

Isolde drinks the draught, and Guinevere

Receives the Table’s ruin through her door,

Francesca, with the loud surf at her ear,

Lets fall the colored book upon the floor. //

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