)
"No--not where I shall make my own;
But dig his grave just by
The woman's with the initialed stone--
As near as he can lie--
After whose death he seemed to ail,
Though none considered why.
"No--not where I shall make my own;
But dig his grave just by
The woman's with the initialed stone--
As near as he can lie--
After whose death he seemed to ail,
Though none considered why.
Thomas Hardy - Poems of the Past and Present
--Had these eyes seen
But once thine own, such had not been!
But we were strangers . . . Thus the plot
Cleared passion's path. --Why came he not
To wed with me? . . .
He wived the gibbet-tree. "
X
--Under that oak of heretofore
Sat Sweetheart mine with me no more:
By many a Fiord, and Strom, and Fleuve
Have I since wandered . . . Soon, for love,
Distraught went she--
'Twas said for love of me.
HER LATE HUSBAND
(KING'S-HINTOCK, 182-.
)
"No--not where I shall make my own;
But dig his grave just by
The woman's with the initialed stone--
As near as he can lie--
After whose death he seemed to ail,
Though none considered why.
"And when I also claim a nook,
And your feet tread me in,
Bestow me, under my old name,
Among my kith and kin,
That strangers gazing may not dream
I did a husband win. "
"Widow, your wish shall be obeyed;
Though, thought I, certainly
You'd lay him where your folk are laid,
And your grave, too, will be,
As custom hath it; you to right,
And on the left hand he. "
"Aye, sexton; such the Hintock rule,
And none has said it nay;
But now it haps a native here
Eschews that ancient way . . .
And it may be, some Christmas night,
When angels walk, they'll say:
"'O strange interment! Civilized lands
Afford few types thereof;
Here is a man who takes his rest
Beside his very Love,
Beside the one who was his wife
In our sight up above! '"
THE SELF-UNSEEING
HERE is the ancient floor,
Footworn and hollowed and thin,
Here was the former door
Where the dead feet walked in.
She sat here in her chair,
Smiling into the fire;
He who played stood there,
Bowing it higher and higher.
Childlike, I danced in a dream;
Blessings emblazoned that day
Everything glowed with a gleam;
Yet we were looking away!
DE PROFUNDIS
I
"Percussus sum sicut foenum, et aruit cor meum. "
--_Ps. _ ci
WINTERTIME nighs;
But my bereavement-pain
It cannot bring again:
Twice no one dies.
Flower-petals flee;
But, since it once hath been,
No more that severing scene
Can harrow me.
Birds faint in dread:
I shall not lose old strength
In the lone frost's black length:
Strength long since fled!
But once thine own, such had not been!
But we were strangers . . . Thus the plot
Cleared passion's path. --Why came he not
To wed with me? . . .
He wived the gibbet-tree. "
X
--Under that oak of heretofore
Sat Sweetheart mine with me no more:
By many a Fiord, and Strom, and Fleuve
Have I since wandered . . . Soon, for love,
Distraught went she--
'Twas said for love of me.
HER LATE HUSBAND
(KING'S-HINTOCK, 182-.
)
"No--not where I shall make my own;
But dig his grave just by
The woman's with the initialed stone--
As near as he can lie--
After whose death he seemed to ail,
Though none considered why.
"And when I also claim a nook,
And your feet tread me in,
Bestow me, under my old name,
Among my kith and kin,
That strangers gazing may not dream
I did a husband win. "
"Widow, your wish shall be obeyed;
Though, thought I, certainly
You'd lay him where your folk are laid,
And your grave, too, will be,
As custom hath it; you to right,
And on the left hand he. "
"Aye, sexton; such the Hintock rule,
And none has said it nay;
But now it haps a native here
Eschews that ancient way . . .
And it may be, some Christmas night,
When angels walk, they'll say:
"'O strange interment! Civilized lands
Afford few types thereof;
Here is a man who takes his rest
Beside his very Love,
Beside the one who was his wife
In our sight up above! '"
THE SELF-UNSEEING
HERE is the ancient floor,
Footworn and hollowed and thin,
Here was the former door
Where the dead feet walked in.
She sat here in her chair,
Smiling into the fire;
He who played stood there,
Bowing it higher and higher.
Childlike, I danced in a dream;
Blessings emblazoned that day
Everything glowed with a gleam;
Yet we were looking away!
DE PROFUNDIS
I
"Percussus sum sicut foenum, et aruit cor meum. "
--_Ps. _ ci
WINTERTIME nighs;
But my bereavement-pain
It cannot bring again:
Twice no one dies.
Flower-petals flee;
But, since it once hath been,
No more that severing scene
Can harrow me.
Birds faint in dread:
I shall not lose old strength
In the lone frost's black length:
Strength long since fled!
