To Meet, Or Otherwise
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
Whether to sally and see thee, girl of my dreams,
Or whether to stay
And see thee not! How vast the difference seems
Of Yea from Nay
Just now. Yet this same sun will slant its beams
At no far day
On our two mounds, and then what will the difference weigh!
Yet I will see thee, maiden dear, and make
The most I can
Of what remains to us amid this brake
Cimmerian
Through which we grope, and from whose thorns we ache,
While still we scan
Round our frail faltering progress for some path or plan.
By briefest meeting something sure is won;
It will have been:
Nor God nor Daemon can undo the done,
Unsight the seen,
Make muted music be as unbegun,
Though things terrene
Groan in their bondage till oblivion supervene.
So, to the one long-sweeping symphony
From times remote
Till now, of human tenderness, shall we
Supply one note,
Small and untraced, yet that will ever be
Somewhere afloat
Amid the spheres, as part of sick Life's antidote.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 157 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABABBCDCDCDDEFEGDDDHIHIHII |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 918 |
Words | 176 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
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"To Meet, Or Otherwise" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/36602/to-meet,-or-otherwise>.
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