Poem by Thomas Hardy

The Background and the Figure

  (Lover’s Ditty)

I think of the slope where the rabbits fed,
Of the periwinks’ rockwork lair,
Of the fuchsias ringing their bells of red –
And the something else seen there.

Between the blooms where the sod basked bright,
By the bobbing fuchsia trees,
Was another and yet more eyesome sight –
The sight that richened these.

I shall seek those beauties in the spring,
When the days are fit and fair,
But only as foils to the one more thing
That also will flower there!

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

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