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. The End of the Episode
2. Barthelemon at Vauxhall
3. The Month’s Calendar
4. The Second Visit
5. Revulsion

Print

1488 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version