Thomas Hardy Poems

That mirror
Which makes of men a transparency,
Who holds that mirror
And bids us such a breast-bare spectacle see
...

(at a Cathedral Service)

THAT from this bright believing band
An outcast I should be,
...

I

In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
...

THE two were silent in a sunless church,
Whose mildewed walls, uneven paving-stones,
And wasted carvings passed antique research;
And nothing broke the clock's dull monotones.
...

A Load of brushes and baskets and cradles and chairs
Labours along the street in the rain:
With it a man, a woman, a pony with whiteybrown hairs. --
The man foots in front of the horse with a shambling sway
...

I

I would that folk forgot me quite,
   Forgot me quite!
...

'Whenever I plunge my arm, like this,
In a basin of water, I never miss
The sweet sharp sense of a fugitive day
Fetched back from its thickening shroud of gray.
...

It faces west, and round the back and sides
High beeches, bending, hang a veil of boughs,
And sweep against the roof. Wild honeysucks
Climb on the walls, and seem to sprout a wish
...

Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.
...

I

   "O Lord, why grievest Thou? -
   Since Life has ceased to be
...