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" I know not how such things can be;
I only know there came to me
A fragrance such as never clings
To aught save happy living things;
A sound as of some joyous elf
Singing sweet songs to please himself,
And, through and over everything,
A sense of glad awakening.
The grass, a-tiptoe at my ear,
Whispering to me I could hear;
I felt the rain’s cool finger-tips
Brushed tenderly across my lips,
Laid gently on my sealed sight,
And all at once the heavy night
Fell from my eyes and I could see!—
A drenched and dripping apple-tree,
A last long line of silver rain,
A sky grown clear and blue again.
And as I looked a quickening gust
Of wind blew up to me and thrust
Into my face a miracle
Of orchard-breath, and with the smell,—
I know not how such things can be!—
I breathed my soul back into me. "

Edna St. Vincent Millay , Collected Poems


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Edna St. Vincent Millay quote : I know not how such things can be;<br />I only know there came to me<br />A fragrance such as never clings<br />To aught save happy living things;<br />A sound as of some joyous elf<br />Singing sweet songs to please himself,<br />And, through and over everything,<br />A sense of glad awakening.<br />The grass, a-tiptoe at my ear,<br />Whispering to me I could hear;<br />I felt the rain’s cool finger-tips<br />Brushed tenderly across my lips,<br />Laid gently on my sealed sight,<br />And all at once the heavy night<br />Fell from my eyes and I could see!—<br />A drenched and dripping apple-tree,<br />A last long line of silver rain,<br />A sky grown clear and blue again.<br />And as I looked a quickening gust<br />Of wind blew up to me and thrust<br />Into my face a miracle<br />Of orchard-breath, and with the smell,—<br />I know not how such things can be!—<br />I breathed my soul back into me.