| Thomas Hardy (1840–1928). Wessex Poems and Other Verses. 1898. |
| |
| 5. At a Bridal |
| |
| |
| WHEN you paced forth, to wait maternity, | |
| A dream of other offspring held my mind, | |
| Compounded of us twain as Love designed; | |
| Rare forms, that corporate now will never be! | |
| |
| Should I, too, wed as slave to Mode’s decree, | 5 |
| And each thus found apart, of false desire, | |
| A stolid line, whom no high aims will fire | |
| As had fired ours could ever have mingled we; | |
| |
| And, grieved that lives so matched should miscompose, | |
| Each mourn the double waste; and question dare | 10 |
| To the Great Dame whence incarnation flows, | |
| Why those high-purposed children never were: | |
| What will she answer? That she does not care | |
If the race all such sovereign types unknows.
1866. | |
| |
|
|
|
