 | Collected poems of Thomas Hardy |  |
POSTPONEMENT
Snow-bound in woodland, a mournful word,
Dropt now and then from the bill of a bird,
Reached me on wind-wafts; and thus I heard,
Wearily waiting:—
Dropt now and then from the bill of a bird,
Reached me on wind-wafts; and thus I heard,
Wearily waiting:—
“I planned her a nest in a leafless tree,
But the passers eyed and twitted me,
And said: ‘How reckless a bird is he,
Cheerily mating!’
But the passers eyed and twitted me,
And said: ‘How reckless a bird is he,
Cheerily mating!’
“Fear-filled, I stayed me till summer-tide,
In lewth of leaves to throne her bride;
But alas! her love for me waned and died.
Wearily waiting.
In lewth of leaves to throne her bride;
But alas! her love for me waned and died.
Wearily waiting.
“Ah, had I been like some I see,
Born to an evergreen nesting-tree,
None had eyed and twitted me,
Cheerily mating!”
Born to an evergreen nesting-tree,
None had eyed and twitted me,
Cheerily mating!”
1866.
| Collected poems of Thomas Hardy | |