PoemApostrophe To Man
Author / PoetEdna St. Vincent Millay
TagsDestruction, Humanity, Irony, War

(On reflecting that the world
is ready to go to war again)

Detestable race, continue to expunge yourself, die out.
Breed faster, crowd, encroach, sing hymns, build
bombing airplanes;
Make speeches, unveil statues, issue bonds, parade;
Convert again into explosives the bewildered ammonia
and the distracted cellulose;
Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies
The hopeful bodies of the young; exhort,
Pray, pull long faces, be earnest,
be all but overcome, be photographed;
Confer, perfect your formulae, commercialize
Bacteria harmful to human tissue,
Put death on the market;
Breed, crowd, encroach,
expand, expunge yourself, die out,
Homo called sapiens.

Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay
22 Feb 1892 - 19 Oct 1950
Region: North America
Period: Modernist
Movement: Modernism
Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

more poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Poem NameTopic
To A Friend Estranged From MeFriendship, Pride, Sun
Time Does Not Bring ReliefGrief, Loss, Memory
Second FigContrast, Ephemeral, Impermanence
RenascenceAwakening, Boundaries, Infinity
RecuerdoFerry, Generosity, Merriment
If I Should Learn, In Some Quite Casual WayCasual, Indifference, Loss
I Know I Am But Summer To Your HeartLove, Return, Seasons
First FigDuality, Ephemeral, Light
Counting-Out RhymeBark, Maple, Willow
An Ancient GestureTears, Tradition, Weaving

all poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay

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