When I Too Long Have Looked Upon Your Face

Edna St. Vincent Millay

When I too long have looked upon your face,
Wherein for me a brightness unobscured
Save by the mists of brightness has its place,
And terrible beauty not to be endured,
I turn away reluctant from your light,
And stand irresolute, a mind undone,
A silly, dazzled thing deprived of sight
From having looked too long upon the sun.
Then is my daily life a narrow room
In which a little while, uncertainly,
Surrounded by impenetrable gloom,
Among familiar things grown strange to me
Making my way, I pause, and feel, and hark,
Till I become accustomed to the dark.

Next 10 Poems

• Edna St. Vincent Millay : When The Year Grows Old
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Wild Swans
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Witch-wife
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Wraith
• Joaquin Miller : At The Grave Of Walker
• Joaquin Miller : By The Pacific Ocean
• Joaquin Miller : Columbus
• Joaquin Miller : Crossing The Plains
• Joaquin Miller : Dead In The Sierras
• Joaquin Miller : In Southern California

Previous 10 Poems

• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Weeds
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : We Talk Of Taxes, And I Call You Friend
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Travel
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : To The Not Impossible Him
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : To S. M.
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : To Kathleen
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : To A Poet That Died Young
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Time Does Not Bring Relief; You All Have Lied
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Thursday
• Edna St. Vincent Millay : Three Songs Of Shattering