villanelle

Mad Girl´s Love Song

by Sylvia Plath
Smith College, 1954

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite
insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell´s fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan´s men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you´d return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back
again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)