"The Philosopher" is one of three songs from composer Dale Trumbore's song cycle Practical Lovesongs; all three set poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Soprano Gillian Hollis premiered the songs on April 18, 2009 at the University of Maryland. TEXT: The Philosopher And what are you that, missing you, I should be kept awake As many nights as there are days With weeping for your sake? And what are you that, missing you, As many days as crawl I should be listening to the wind And looking to the wall? I know a man that’s a braver man And twenty men as kind, And what are you, that you should be The one man in my mind? Yet women’s ways are witless ways As any sage will tell— And what am I, that I should love So wisely and so well? —Edna St. Vincent Millay