Thomas Hardy

Cross-Currents

They parted – a pallid, trembling pair,
And rushing down the lane
He left her lonely near me there;
– I asked her of their pain.

‘It is for ever,’ at length she said,
‘His friends have schemed it so,
That the long-purposed day to wed
Never shall we two know.’

‘In such a cruel case,’ said I,
‘Love will contrive a course?’
‘ – Well, no . . . A thing may underlie,
Which robs that of its force;

‘A thing I could not tell him of,
Though all the year I have tried;
This: never could I have given him love,
Even had I been his bride.

‘So, when his kinsfolk stop the way
Point-blank, there could not be
A happening in the world to-day
More opportune for me!

‘Yet hear – no doubt to your surprise –
I am grieving, for his sake,
That I have escaped the sacrifice
I was distressed to make!’