Poem by Thomas Hardy

The Brother

O know you what I have done
To avenge our sister? She,
I thought, was wantoned with
By a man of levity:

And I lay in wait all day,
All day did I wait for him,
And dogged him to Bollard Head
When twilight dwindled dim,

And hurled him over the edge
And heard him fall below:
O would I were lying with him,
For the truth I did not know!

‘O where’s my husband?’ she asked,
As evening wore away:
‘Best you had one, forsooth,
But never had you!’ I say.

‘Yes, but I have!’ says she,
‘My Love made it up with me,
And we churched it yesterday
And mean to live happily.’

And now I go in haste
To the Head, before she’s aware,
To join him in death for the wrong
I’ve done them both out there!

1. At the Word ‘Farewell’
2. The Three Tall Men
3. The Supplanter
4. I Found Her Out There
5. Afternoon Service at Mellstock

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