pleased with the day and with myself

How sweet the sound in the city an hour before sunrise, 

When the park is empty and grey and the light clear and so lovely 

I must sit on the floor before my open window for an hour with my arms on the sill

And my cheek on my arm, watching the spring sky's

Soft suffusion from the roofed horizon upward with palest rose,

Doting on the charming sight with eyes

Open, eyes closed;

Breathing with quiet pleasure the cool air cleansed by the night, lacking all will

To let such happiness go, nor thinking the least thing ill

In me for such indulgence, pleased with the day and with myself.

    How sweet

The noisy chirping of the urchin sparrows from crevice and shelf

Under my window, and from down there in the street,

Announcing the advance of the roaring competitive day with city bird-song.

 

[Edna St. Vincent Millay {1892-1950}, 'English Sparrows' (Washington Square), from The Language of Spring: Poems for the season of renewal]