Mad Girl's Love Song (poem)

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

"Mad Girl's Love Song" is a poem written by Sylvia Plath in 1951, while she was a student at Smith College. It is written in the villanelle poetic form and is generally included in the biographical note appended to Plath's novel, The Bell Jar.

The poem was first published in the August 1953 edition of Mademoiselle. In June 1953 Plath worked for Mademoiselle as a Guest Editor in New York City, as portrayed in The Bell Jar.