Well, I Have Lost You

Well, I have lost you, and lost you fairly,
In my own way and with my full consent.
Say what you will, kings in a tumbrel rarely
Went to their deaths more proud than this one went.
Some nights of apprehension and hot weeping,
I will confess, but that's permitted me.
Day dried my eyes; I was not one for keeping
Rubbed in a cage a wing that would be free.
If I had loved you less or played you slyly,
I might have held you for a summer more.
But at the cost of words I value highly,
And no such summer as the one before.
If I should outlive this anguish, and men do,
I shall have only good to say of you.

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay