Poem by Thomas Hardy

At Casterbridge Fair. II. Former Beauties

These market-dames, mid-aged, with lips thin-drawn,
     And tissues sere,
Are they the ones we loved in years agone,
     And courted here?

Are these the muslined pink young things to whom
     We vowed and swore
In nooks on summer Sundays by the Froom,
     Or Budmouth shore?

Do they remember those gay tunes we trod
     Clasped on the green;
Aye; trod till moonlight set on the beaten sod
     A satin sheen?

They must forget, forget! They cannot know
     What once they were,
Or memory would transfigure them, and show
     Them always fair.

1. The Woman in the Rye
2. The Peasant’s Confession
3. Her Reproach
4. Misconception
5. The Rash Bride

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