maggie and milly and molly and may

E. E. Cummings, 1894 – 1962

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