maggie and milly and molly and may

E. E. Cummings, 1894 - 1962

              10

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

from

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/maggie-and-milly-and-molly-and-may

Copyright © 1956, 1984, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust 

from The Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, 

Edited by George J. Firmage. 

Reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. 

All rights reserved.