I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. <br />So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: <br />Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned <br />With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned. <br /> <br />Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. <br />Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust. <br />A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, <br />A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost. <br /> <br />The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the <br /> love,— <br />They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled <br />Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not <br />approve. <br />More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the <br /> world. <br /> <br />Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave <br />Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; <br />Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. <br />I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.<br /><br />Edna St. Vincent Millay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dirge-without-music/
