English Poetry at the Poetry Monster. Thomas Hardy. Poem Why Did I Sketch?.

Poem by Thomas Hardy

* * *

Why did I sketch an upland green,
And put the figure in
Of one on the spot with me? '
For now that one has ceased to be seen
The picture waxes akin
To a wordless irony.

If you go drawing on down or cliff
Let no soft curves intrude
Of a woman's silhouette,
But show the escarpments stark and stiff
As in utter solitude;
So shall you half forget.

Let me sooner pass from sight of the sky
Than again on a thoughtless day
Limn, laugh, and sing, and rhyme
With a woman sitting near, whom I
Paint in for love, and who may
Be called hence in my time!

From an old note

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy’s other poems:

1. Yuletide in a Younger World
2. I Thought, My Heart
3. The Two Houses
4. The Nettles
5. The Inscription

The Last Poems

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