Poem by Thomas Hardy

The Problem

Shall we conceal the Case, or tell it –
We who believe the evidence?
Here and there the watch-towers knell it
With a sullen significance,
Heard of the few who hearken intently and carry an eagerly upstrained sense.

Hearts that are happiest hold not by it;
Better we let, then, the old view reign:
Since there is peace in that, why decry it?
Since there is comfort, why disdain?
Note not the pigment so long as the painting determines humanity’s joy and pain.

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

Henry Timrod The Problem ("Not to win thy favor, maiden, not to steal away thy heart")

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