If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
that thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!”
Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
–Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan. . .
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.
(Thomas Hardy)
More Poetry from Thomas Hardy:
Thomas Hardy Poems based on Topics: Sadness, Sense & Perception, God, Pain, Laughter- I have lived with shades (Thomas Hardy Poems)
- A King's Soliloquy [On the Night of His Funeral] (Thomas Hardy Poems)
- I said to love (Thomas Hardy Poems)
- A Dream Or No (Thomas Hardy Poems)
- A Jog-Trot Pair (Thomas Hardy Poems)
- Between us now (Thomas Hardy Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: God Poems, Sadness Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Pain Poems, Laughter PoemsBased on Keywords: pilgrimage, arrives, ire, casts, willed, steeled, blisses, readily, vengeful, meted, purblind