 | Collected poems of Thomas Hardy |  |
HE DID NOT KNOW ME
(WOMAN'S SORROW SONG)
He said: “I do not know you;
You are not she who came
And made my heart grow tame?”
I laughed: “The same!”
You are not she who came
And made my heart grow tame?”
I laughed: “The same!”
830
Still said he: “I don't know you.”
“But I am your Love!” laughed I:
“Yours—faithful ever—till I die,
And pulseless lie!”
“But I am your Love!” laughed I:
“Yours—faithful ever—till I die,
And pulseless lie!”
Yet he said: “I don't know you.”
Freakful, I went away,
And met pale Time, with “Pray,
What means his Nay?”
Freakful, I went away,
And met pale Time, with “Pray,
What means his Nay?”
Said Time: “He does not know you
In your mask of Comedy.”
“But,” said I, “that I have chosen to be:
Tragedy he.”
In your mask of Comedy.”
“But,” said I, “that I have chosen to be:
Tragedy he.”
“True; hence he did not know you.”
“But him I could recognize?”
“Yea. Tragedy is true guise,
Comedy lies.”
“But him I could recognize?”
“Yea. Tragedy is true guise,
Comedy lies.”
| Collected poems of Thomas Hardy | |