Poem by Thomas Hardy

The Opportunity

       (For H.P.)

Forty springs back, I recall,
We met at this phase of the Maytime:
We might have clung close through all,
But we parted when died that daytime.

We parted with smallest regret;
Perhaps should have cared but slightly,
Just then, if we never had met:
Strange, strange that we lived so lightly!

Had we mused a little space
At that critical date in the Maytime,
One life had been ours, one place,
Perhaps, till our long cold claytime.

– This is a bitter thing
For thee, O man: what ails it?
The tide of chance may bring
Its offer; but nought avails it!

1. V.R. 1819–1901
2. Genitrix Laesa
3. Song from Heine
4. Life and Death at Sunrise
5. Music in a Snowy Street

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