Poem by Thomas Hardy

Love the Monopolist

  (Young Lover’s Reverie)

The train draws forth from the station-yard,
And with it carries me.
I rise, and stretch out, and regard
The platform left, and see
An airy slim blue form there standing,
And know that it is she.

While with strained vision I watch on,
The figure turns round quite
To greet friends gaily; then is gone. . . . 
The import may be slight,
But why remained she not hard gazing
Till I was out of sight?

‘O do not chat with others there,’
I brood. ‘They are not I.
O strain your thoughts as if they were
Gold bands between us; eye
All neighbour scenes as so much blankness
Till I again am by!

‘A troubled soughing in the breeze
And the sky overhead
Let yourself feel; and shadeful trees,
Ripe corn, and apples red,
Read as things barren and distasteful
While we are separated!

‘When I come back uncloak your gloom,
And let in lovely day;
Then the long dark as of the tomb
Can well be thrust away
With sweet things I shall have to practise,
And you will have to say!’

1. Afternoon Service at Mellstock
2. At the Word ‘Farewell’
3. The Three Tall Men
4. The Dead Bastard
5. The Supplanter

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