Branch by branch 
This tree has died. Green only 
Is one last bough, moving its leaves in the sun.

What evil ate its root, what blight,
What ugly thing,
Let the mole say, the bird sing;
Or the white worm behind the shedding bark
Tick in the dark.

You and I have only one thing to do:
Saw the trunk through.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems, edited by Norma Millay, New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, [1956], page 336.

Note: The following individuals provided invaluable help in determining when this poem was first published: Brenda Wiard of 2neat.com, Janet Hughes from the library of Pennsylvania State University, and particularly Kristi Addleman Ritter, also from the from the library of Pennsylvania State University. Their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.

Text Authorship:

• by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in Huntsman, What Quarry?, in Not So Far as the Forest, no. 2, first published 1933 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932), "Branch by Branch", from Five Millay Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , "Ast um Ast", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2004-01-10
Line count: 10
Word count: 61