A Wagon Stopped by Edna St. Vincent Millay

A wagon stopped before the house; she heard

The heavy oilskins of the grocer's man

Slapping against his legs... of a sudden whirred

Her heart like a frightened partridge, and she ran

And slid the bolt, leaving his entrance free;

Then in the cellar way till he was gone

Hid, breathless, praying that he might not see

The chair sway she had laid her hand upon

In passing. Sour and damp from that dark vault

Arose to her the well-remembered chill;

She saw the narrow wooden stairway still

Plunging into the earth, and the thin salt

Crusting the crocks; until she knew him far, / So stood, with listening eyes upon the empty dough-nut jar.