Poem by Thomas Hardy

* * *

‘Who’s in the next room? – who?
I seemed to see
Somebody in the dawning passing through,
Unknown to me.’
‘Nay: you saw nought. He passed invisibly.’

‘Who’s in the next room? – who?
I seem to hear
Somebody muttering firm in a language new
That chills the ear.’
‘No: you catch not his tongue who has entered there.’

‘Who’s in the next room? – who?
I seem to feel
His breath like a clammy draught, as if it drew
From the Polar Wheel.’
‘No: none who breathes at all does the door conceal.’

‘Who’s in the next room? – who?
A figure wan
With a message to one in there of something due?
Shall I know him anon?’
‘Yea he; and he brought such; and you’ll know him anon.’

1. Genitrix Laesa
2. Song from Heine
3. V.R. 1819–1901
4. Over the Coffin
5. Song to an Old Burden

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