Time does not bring Relief

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950). Renascence and Other Poems. 1917.

19. “Time does not bring relief; you all have lied”

Sonnet II


TIME does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side, 5
And last year’s leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year’s bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide!

There are a hundred places where I fear
To go,—so with his memory they brim! 10
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, “There is no memory of him here!”
And so stand stricken, so remembering him!

- This is an easy poem to teach the sonnet form from, and also a very seductive read. I'm not very sentimental and I don't get heartbroken, but I had a good friend who would come and cry in my room after her break up. I read poetry to people to come and visit me and it just happened that I read this one only for her to find it strangely cathartic. I also really like the volta after the octet which is cleverly crafted and a perfect example of love poetry which is sickeningly cliche. This poem has a particularly musicality to it which makes it very nice to read aloud and the vocabulary is relatively simple!