The Complete Poetical Works. Томас Харди
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Название: The Complete Poetical Works

Автор: Томас Харди

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

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isbn: 9788027241361

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СКАЧАТЬ Weighs less in their thought

       Than our old homely acts,

       And the long-ago commonplace facts

       Of our lives—held by us as scarce part of our story,

       And rated as nought!”

      XIII

      Then bitterly some: “Was it wise now

       To raise the tomb-door

       For such knowledge? Away!”

       But the rest: “Fame we prized till to-day;

       Yet that hearts keep us green for old kindness we prize now

       A thousand times more!”

      XIV

      Thus speaking, the trooped apparitions

       Began to disband

       And resolve them in two:

       Those whose record was lovely and true

       Bore to northward for home: those of bitter traditions

       Again left the land,

      XV

      And, towering to seaward in legions,

       They paused at a spot

       Overbending the Race—

       That engulphing, ghast, sinister place—

       Whither headlong they plunged, to the fathomless regions

       Of myriads forgot.

      XVI

      And the spirits of those who were homing

       Passed on, rushingly,

       Like the Pentecost Wind;

       And the whirr of their wayfaring thinned

       And surceased on the sky, and but left in the gloaming

       Sea-mutterings and me.

      December 1899.

      Song of the Soldiers’ Wives

       Table of Contents

      I

      At last! In sight of home again,

       Of home again;

       No more to range and roam again

       As at that bygone time?

       No more to go away from us

       And stay from us?—

       Dawn, hold not long the day from us,

       But quicken it to prime!

      II

      Now all the town shall ring to them,

       Shall ring to them,

       And we who love them cling to them

       And clasp them joyfully;

       And cry, “O much we’ll do for you

       Anew for you,

       Dear Loves!—aye, draw and hew for you,

       Come back from oversea.”

      III

      Some told us we should meet no more,

       Should meet no more;

       Should wait, and wish, but greet no more

       Your faces round our fires;

       That, in a while, uncharily

       And drearily

       Men gave their lives—even wearily,

       Like those whom living tires.

      IV

      And now you are nearing home again,

       Dears, home again;

       No more, may be, to roam again

       As at that bygone time,

       Which took you far away from us

       To stay from us;

       Dawn, hold not long the day from us,

       But quicken it to prime!

      The Sick God

       Table of Contents

      I

      In days when men had joy of war,

       A God of Battles sped each mortal jar;

       The peoples pledged him heart and hand,

       From Israel’s land to isles afar.

      II

      His crimson form, with clang and chime,

       Flashed on each murk and murderous meeting-time,

       And kings invoked, for rape and raid,

       His fearsome aid in rune and rhyme.

      III

      On bruise and blood-hole, scar and seam,

       On blade and bolt, he flung his fulgid beam:

       His haloes rayed the very gore,

       And corpses wore his glory-gleam.

      IV

      Often an early King or Queen,

       And storied hero onward, knew his sheen;

       ’Twas glimpsed by Wolfe, by Ney anon,

       And Nelson on his blue demesne.

      V

      But new light spread. That god’s gold nimb

       And blazon have waned dimmer and more dim;

       Even his flushed form begins to fade,

       Till but a shade is left of him.

      VI

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