English Poetry. Thomas Hardy. The Opportunity. Томас Гарди (Харди).

Thomas Hardy (Томас Гарди (Харди))

The Opportunity

       (For H.P.)

Forty springs back, I recall,
We met at this phase of the Maytime:
We might have clung close through all,
But we parted when died that daytime.

We parted with smallest regret;
Perhaps should have cared but slightly,
Just then, if we never had met:
Strange, strange that we lived so lightly!

Had we mused a little space
At that critical date in the Maytime,
One life had been ours, one place,
Perhaps, till our long cold claytime.

– This is a bitter thing
For thee, O man: what ails it?
The tide of chance may bring
Its offer; but nought avails it!

Thomas Hardy’s other poems:

1. The Two Houses
2. The Weary Walker
3. The Pat of Butter
4. The Whaler’s Wife
5. Yuletide in a Younger World

949

To the dedicated English version of this website

---