Thomas Hardy Poems

Con the dead page as 'twere live love: press on!
Cold wisdom's words will ease thy track for thee;
Aye, go; cast off sweet ways, and leave me wan
To biting blasts that are intent on me.
...

From the slow march and muffled drum,
And crowds distrest,
And book and bell, at length I have come
To my full rest.
...

I MARKED her ruined hues,
Her custom-straitened views,
And asked, "Can there indwell
My Amabel?"
...

Whence comes Solace?--Not from seeing
What is doing, suffering, being,
Not from noting Life's conditions,
Nor from heeding Time's monitions;
...

Child, were I king, I'd yield my royal rule,
   My chariot, sceptre, vassal-service due,
My crown, my porphyry-basined waters cool,
My fleets, whereto the sea is but a pool,
...

I

"Percussus sum sicut foenum, et aruit cor meum."
- Ps. ci
...

While the far farewell music thins and fails,
And the broad bottoms rip the bearing brine -
All smalling slowly to the gray sea line -
And each significant red smoke-shaft pales,
...

I

Last year I called this world of gain-givings
The darkest thinkable, and questioned sadly
...

I said to Love,
"It is not now as in old days
When men adored thee and thy ways
All else above;
...

Minor Key

I
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