| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | ‘I need not go’ | | By Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) |
| | | I NEED not go | |
| Through sleet and snow | |
| To where I know | |
| She waits for me; | |
| She will tarry me there | 5 |
| Till I find it fair, | |
| And have time to spare | |
| From company. | |
| |
| When I’ve overgot | |
| The world somewhat, | 10 |
| When things cost not | |
| Such stress and strain, | |
| Is soon enough | |
| By cypress sough | |
| To tell my Love | 15 |
| I am come again. | |
| |
| And if some day, | |
| When none cries nay, | |
| I still delay | |
| To seek her side, | 20 |
| (Though ample measure | |
| Of fitting leisure | |
| Await my pleasure) | |
| She will not chide. | |
| |
| What—not upbraid me | 25 |
| That I delay’d me, | |
| Nor ask what stay’d me | |
| So long? Ah, no!— | |
| New cares may claim me. | |
| New loves inflame me, | 30 |
| She will not blame me, | |
| But suffer it so. | | | | |
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