Poem by Thomas Hardy

The Slow Nature

(An Incident of Froom Valley)

‘Thy husband – poor, poor Heart! – is dead –
Dead, out by Moreford Rise; 
A bull escaped the barton-shed, 
Gored him, and there he lies!’ 

– ‘Ha, ha – go away! ’Tis a tale, methink, 
Thou joker Kit!’ laughed she. 
‘I’ve known thee many a year, Kit Twink, 
And ever hast thou fooled me!’ 

– ‘But, Mistress Damon – I can swear 
Thy goodman John is dead! 
And soon th’lt hear their feet who bear 
His body to his bed.’ 

So unwontedly sad was the merry man’s face –
That face which had long deceived –
That she gazed and gazed; and then could trace 
The truth there; and she believed. 

She laid a hand on the dresser-ledge, 
And scanned far Egdon-side; 
And stood; and you heard the wind-swept sedge 
And the rippling Froom; till she cried: 

‘O my chamber’s untidied, unmade my bed, 
Though the day has begun to wear! 
“What a slovenly hussif!” it will be said, 
When they all go up my stair!’ 

She disappeared; and the joker stood 
Depressed by his neighbour’s doom, 
And amazed that a wife struck to widowhood 
Thought first of her unkempt room. 

But a fortnight thence she could take no food, 
And she pined in a slow decay; 
While Kit soon lost his mournful mood 
And laughed in his ancient way.

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

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