Thoughts Of Phena Poem by Thomas Hardy
Thoughts Of Phena
at news of her death
Not a line of her writing have I
Not a thread of her hair,
No mark of her late time as dame in her dwelling, whereby
I may picture her there;
And in vain do I urge my unsight
To conceive my lost prize
At her close, whom I knew when her dreams were upbrimming with light
And with laughter her eyes.
What scenes spread around her last days,
Sad, shining, or dim?
Did her gifts and compassions enray and enarch her sweet ways
With an aureate nimb?
Or did life-light decline from her years,
And mischances control
Her full day-star; unease, or regret, or forebodings, or fears
Disennoble her soul?
Thus I do but the phantom retain
Of the maiden of yore
As my relic; yet haply the best of her--fined in my brain
It may be the more
That no line of her writing have I,
Nor a thread of her hair,
No mark of her late time as dame in her dwelling, whereby
I may picture her there.
March 1890.
Regrets at her passing, and he with no photo, no news of her last days. Only the distant memories of her when younger and beautiful. Who has not bee there?
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4/18/2024 5:54:31 PM # 1.0.0.1119
It is a sad story if true that lies behind this work. Following a five-year courtship with the subject of the poem and just as they were set to be married Hardy discovered that the two were cousins. That, according to the mores of the day, would have made the marriage incestuous so they broke off the engagement and never saw each other again. Years later when Hardy learned of her death he wrote this wonderful poem about memory, love, loss, and regret.