 | Collected poems of Thomas Hardy |  |
“I HAVE LIVED WITH SHADES”
I
I have lived with Shades so long,And talked to them so oft,
Since forth from cot and croft
I went mankind among,
That sometimes they
In their dim style
Will pause awhile
To hear my say;
II
And take me by the hand,And lead me through their rooms
In the To-be, where Dooms
Half-wove and shapeless stand:
And show from there
The dwindled dust
And rot and rust
Of things that were.
III
“Now turn,” they said to meOne day: “Look whence we came,
And signify his name
Who gazes thence at thee.”—
—“Nor name nor race
Know I, or can,”
I said, “Of man
So commonplace.
170
IV
“He moves me not at all;I note no ray or jot
Of rareness in his lot,
Or star exceptional.
Into the dim
Dead throngs around
He'll sink, nor sound
Be left of him.”
V
“Yet,” said they, “his frail speech,Hath accents pitched like thine—
Thy mould and his define
A likeness each to each—
But go! Deep pain
Alas, would be
His name to thee,
And told in vain!”
February 2, 1899.
| Collected poems of Thomas Hardy | |