Thomas Hardy Poems >>
I said to love

I said to Love,
‘It is not now as in old days
When men adored thee and thy ways
   All else above;
Named thee the Boy, the Bright, the One
Who spread a heaven beneath the sun,’
   I said to Love.

   I said to him,
‘We now know more of thee than then;
We were but weak in judgment when,
   With hearts abrim,
We clamoured thee that thou would’st please
Inflict on us thine agonies,’
   I said to him.

   I said to Love,
‘Thou art not young, thou art not fair,
No faery darts, no cherub air,
   Nor swan, nor dove
Are thine; but features pitiless,
And iron daggers of distress,’
   I said to Love.

   ‘Depart then, Love! . . .
– Man’s race shall end, dost threaten thou?
The age to come the man of now
   Know nothing of? –
We fear not such a threat from thee;
We are too old in apathy!
Mankind shall cease.–So let it be,’
   I said to Love.

(Thomas Hardy)

More Poetry from Thomas Hardy:

• I have lived with shades (Thomas Hardy Poems)
• A King's Soliloquy [On the Night of His Funeral] (Thomas Hardy Poems)
• A Dream Or No (Thomas Hardy Poems)
• A Jog-Trot Pair (Thomas Hardy Poems)
• Between us now (Thomas Hardy Poems)
• A Death-Day Recalled (Thomas Hardy Poems)

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