AFTERNOON ON A HILL

Edna St. Vincent Millay

(1892–1950)

I will be the gladdest thing

  Under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

  And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds

  With quiet eyes,

Watch the wind bow down the grass,

  And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show

  Up from the town,

I will mark which must be mine,

  And then start down!