Afternoon on a Hill
I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun
I will touch a hundred flowers
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one
I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes
Watch the wind bow down the grass
And watch the grass rise
I will be the gladdest thing, the gladdest thing
Under the sun
I will touch a hundred flowers
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick, not pick one
Mouth "trumpet"
When the lights begin to show
Up from the town
I will mark which must be mine
Then go walkin' down
I will be, I will be, I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun
I will touch a hundred flowers
A hundred flowers
And not pick, not pick one
I will be the gladdest thing
I will be the gladdest thing
The gladdest thing
The gladdest thing
“Afternoon on a Hill” was written as a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1917. I changed and added a few words and played around with some lines to make it into a song that would sing well.
Millay was born in Rockland, Maine in 1892. She was one of the most respected American poets of the 20th century. As noted on the website of the Millay House Rockland, she was a “poet, feminist, playwright, political activist, polyamorous lover, gardener.”
On this rainy and very green afternoon. Flowers and ferns on a hill.
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