#MIDDLEBURY
A Visit to the Asylum
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Once from a big, big building,
When I was small, small,
The queer folk in the windows
Would smile at me and call.
And in the hard wee gardens
Such pleasant men would hoe:
“Sir, may we touch the little girl’s hair!” –
It was so red, you know.
They cut me coloured asters
With shears so sharp and neat,
They brought me grapes and plums and pears
And pretty cakes to eat.
And out of all the windows,
No matter where we went,
The merriest eyes would follow me
And make me compliment.
There were a thousand windows,
All latticed up and down.
And up to all the windows,
When we went back to town,
The queer folk put their faces,
As gentle as could be;
“Come again, little girl!” they called, and I
Called back, “You come see me!”
About this poem
“A Visit to the Asylum” was published in “The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems” (Harper & Brothers, 1923).
About Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay was born on Feb. 22, 1892, in Rockland, Maine. Her collections of poetry include “Renascence and Other Poems” (Mitchell Kennerley, 1917) and “A Few Figs from Thistles” (F. Shay, 1920). In 1923, Millay was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver” (F. Shay, 1922). She died in 1950.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
This poem is in the public domain. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
