Poem by Thomas Hardy

The Market-Girl

Nobody took any notice of her as she stood on the causey kerb,
All eager to sell her honey and apples and bunches of garden herb;
And if she had offered to give her wares and herself with them too that day,
I doubt if a soul would have cared to take a bargain so choice away.

But chancing to trace her sunburnt grace that morning as I passed nigh,
I went and I said ‘Poor maidy dear! – and will none of the people buy?’
And so it began; and soon we knew what the end of it all must be,
And I found that though no others had bid, a prize had been won by me.

1. V.R. 1819–1901
2. Genitrix Laesa
3. Over the Coffin
4. The Forbidden Banns
5. Song from Heine

Print

1231 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version