This beast that rends me

Edna St. Vincent Millay

1892 to 1950

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Track 1

Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.

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This love, this longing, this oblivious thing,
Though I should love again I shall not go:
The scar of this encounter like a sword
That has me under as the last leaves fall,
Will glut, will sicken, will be gone by spring.
Sharp to the kiss, cold to the hand as snow,
 
The wound will heal, the fever will abate,
Will lie between me and my troubled lord.
I shall forget before the flickers mate
Unscathed, however, from a claw so deep
This beast that rends me in the sight of all,
The knotted hurt will slacken in the breast;
Your look that is today my east and west.
Along my body, waking while I sleep,