| Thomas Hardy (1840–1928). Wessex Poems and Other Verses. 1898. |
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| 41. To an Orphan Child |
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| AH, child, thou art but half thy darling mother’s; | |
| Hers couldst thou wholly be, | |
| My light in thee would outglow all in others; | |
| She would relive to me. | |
| But niggard Nature’s trick of birth | 5 |
| Bars, lest she overjoy, | |
| Renewal of the loved on earth | |
| Save with alloy. | |
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| The Dame has no regard, alas, my maiden, | |
| For love and loss like mine— | 10 |
| No sympathy with mind-sight memory-laden; | |
| Only with fickle eyne. | |
| To her mechanic artistry | |
| My dreams are all unknown, | |
| And why I wish that thou couldst be | 15 |
| But One’s alone! | |
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