 | Collected poems of Thomas Hardy |  |
ST. LAUNCE'S REVISITED
Slip back, Time!
Yet again I am nearing
Castle and keep, uprearing
Gray, as in my prime.
Yet again I am nearing
Castle and keep, uprearing
Gray, as in my prime.
At the inn
Smiling nigh, why is it
Not as on my visit
When hope and I were twin?
Smiling nigh, why is it
Not as on my visit
When hope and I were twin?
Groom and jade
Whom I found here, moulder;
Strange the tavern-holder,
Strange the tap-maid.
Whom I found here, moulder;
Strange the tavern-holder,
Strange the tap-maid.
Here I hired
Horse and man for bearing
Me on my wayfaring
To the door desired.
Horse and man for bearing
Me on my wayfaring
To the door desired.
Evening gloomed
As I journeyed forward
To the faces shoreward,
Till their dwelling loomed.
As I journeyed forward
To the faces shoreward,
Till their dwelling loomed.
If again
Towards the Atlantic sea there
I should speed, they'd be there
Surely now as then? . . .
Towards the Atlantic sea there
I should speed, they'd be there
Surely now as then? . . .
336
Why waste thought,
When I know them vanished
Under earth; yea, banished
Ever into nought!
When I know them vanished
Under earth; yea, banished
Ever into nought!
| Collected poems of Thomas Hardy | |