what are you, that you should be The one man in my mind

And what are you that, wanting you, 

    I should be kept awake 

As many nights as there are days 

    With weeping for your sake? 

 

And what are you that, missing you, 

    As many days as crawl 

I should be listening to the wind 

    And looking at the wall? 

 

I know a man that's a braver man 

    And twenty men as kind, 

And what are you, that you should be 

    The one man in my mind? 

 

Yet women's ways are witless ways, 

    As any sage will tell, — 

And what am I, that I should love 

    So wisely and so well? 

 

[Edna St. Vincent Millay {1892-1950} 'The Philosopher']