I Know The Face Of Falsehood And Her Tongue
Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892 (Rockland) – 1950 (Austerlitz)
I know the face of Falsehood and her Tongue
Honeyed with unction, Plausible with guile,
Are dear to men, whom count me not among,
That owe their daily credit to her smile;
Such have been succoured out of great distress
By her contriving, if accounts be true:
Their deference now above the board, I guess,
Dishcharges what beneath the board is due.
As for myself, I'd liefer lack her aid
Than eat her presence; let this building fall:
But let me never lift my latch, afraid
To hear her simpering accents in the hall,
Nor force an entrance past mephitic airs
Of stale patchoulie hanging on my stairs.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 95 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 593 |
Words | 110 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"I Know The Face Of Falsehood And Her Tongue" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/9380/i-know-the-face-of-falsehood-and-her-tongue>.
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