| Thomas Hardy (1840–1928). Wessex Poems and Other Verses. 1898. | | | | 8. Neutral Tones | | | | | | WE stood by a pond that winter day, | | | And the sun was white, as though chidden of God, | | | And a few leaves lay on the starving sod, | | | —They had fallen from an ash, and were gray. | | | | | Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove | 5 | | Over tedious riddles solved years ago; | | | And some words played between us to and fro— | | | On which lost the more by our love. | | | | | The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing | | | Alive enough to have strength to die; | 10 | | And a grin of bitterness swept thereby | | | Like an ominous bird a-wing…. | | | | | Since then, keen lessons that love deceives, | | | And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me | | | Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree, | 15 | And a pond edged with grayish leaves.
1867. | | | | |
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