Thomas Hardy (Томас Гарди (Харди))
Cross-Currents
They parted – a pallid, trembling pair, And rushing down the lane He left her lonely near me there; – I asked her of their pain. ‘It is for ever,’ at length she said, ‘His friends have schemed it so, That the long-purposed day to wed Never shall we two know.’ ‘In such a cruel case,’ said I, ‘Love will contrive a course?’ ‘ – Well, no . . . A thing may underlie, Which robs that of its force; ‘A thing I could not tell him of, Though all the year I have tried; This: never could I have given him love, Even had I been his bride. ‘So, when his kinsfolk stop the way Point-blank, there could not be A happening in the world to-day More opportune for me! ‘Yet hear – no doubt to your surprise – I am grieving, for his sake, That I have escaped the sacrifice I was distressed to make!’
Thomas Hardy’s other poems:
915
