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

Автор: Томас Харди

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

Серия:

isbn: 9788027241361

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ birds are fled;

       But summer songsters pipe to me,

       And petals spread,

       For what I dreamt of secretly

       His lips have said!

      II

      O ’tis a fine May morn, they say,

       And blooms have blown;

       But wild and wintry is my day,

       My birds make moan;

       For he who vowed leaves me to pay

       Alone—alone!

      The Milkmaid

       Table of Contents

      Under a daisied bank

       There stands a rich red ruminating cow,

       And hard against her flank

       A cotton-hooded milkmaid bends her brow.

      The flowery river-ooze

       Upheaves and falls; the milk purrs in the pail;

       Few pilgrims but would choose

       The peace of such a life in such a vale.

      The maid breathes words—to vent,

       It seems, her sense of Nature’s scenery,

       Of whose life, sentiment,

       And essence, very part itself is she.

      She bends a glance of pain,

       And, at a moment, lets escape a tear;

       Is it that passing train,

       Whose alien whirr offends her country ear?—

      Nay! Phyllis does not dwell

       On visual and familiar things like these;

       What moves her is the spell

       Of inner themes and inner poetries:

      Could but by Sunday morn

       Her gay new gown come, meads might dry to dun,

       Trains shriek till ears were torn,

       If Fred would not prefer that Other One.

      The Levelled Churchyard

       Table of Contents

      “O passenger, pray list and catch

       Our sighs and piteous groans,

       Half stifled in this jumbled patch

       Of wrenched memorial stones!

      “We late-lamented, resting here,

       Are mixed to human jam,

       And each to each exclaims in fear,

       ‘I know not which I am!’

      “The wicked people have annexed

       The verses on the good;

       A roaring drunkard sports the text

       Teetotal Tommy should!

      “Where we are huddled none can trace,

       And if our names remain,

       They pave some path or p-ing place

       Where we have never lain!

      “There’s not a modest maiden elf

       But dreads the final Trumpet,

       Lest half of her should rise herself,

       And half some local strumpet!

      “From restorations of Thy fane,

       From smoothings of Thy sward,

       From zealous Churchmen’s pick and plane

       Deliver us O Lord! Amen!”

      1882.

      The Ruined Maid

       Table of Contents

      “O ’Melia, my dear, this does everything crown!

       Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town?

       And whence such fair garments, such prosperi-ty?”—

       “O didn’t you know I’d been ruined?” said she.

      —“You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,

       Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks;

       And now you’ve gay bracelets and bright feathers three!”—

       “Yes: that’s how we dress when we’re ruined,” said she.

      —“At home in the barton you said ‘thee’ and ‘thou,’

       And ‘thik oon,’ and ‘theäs oon,’ and ‘t’other’; but now

       Your talking quite fits ’ee for high compa-ny!”—

       “Some polish is gained with one’s ruin,” said she.

      —“Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak,

       But now I’m bewitched by your delicate cheek,

       And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!”—

       “We never do work when we’re ruined,” said she.

      —“You used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream,

       And you’d sigh, and you’d sock; but at present you seem

       To know not of megrims or melancho-ly!”—

       “True. There’s an advantage in ruin,” said she.

      —“I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,

       And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!”—

       СКАЧАТЬ