Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses

❖

Thomas Hardy

THOMAS HARDY

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON
1929

         First Edition 1917

         Reprinted 1919

         Pocket Edition 1919

         Reprinted 1923, 1925, 1929

         Wessex Edition 1919

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

BY R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, EDINBURGH

MOMENTS OF VISION
THE VOICE OF THINGS
“WHY BE AT PAINS?” (Wooer’s Song)
“WE SAT AT THE WINDOW” (Bournemouth, 1875)
AFTERNOON SERVICE AT MELLSTOCK (Circa 1850)
AT THE WICKET-GATE
IN A MUSEUM
APOSTROPHE TO AN OLD PSALM TUNE
AT THE WORD “FAREWELL”
FIRST SIGHT OF HER AND AFTER
THE RIVAL
HEREDITY
“YOU WERE THE SORT THAT MEN FORGET”
SHE, I, AND THEY
NEAR LANIVET, 1872
JOYS OF MEMORY
TO THE MOON
COPYING ARCHITECTURE IN AN OLD MINSTER (Wimborne)
TO SHAKESPEARE AFTER THREE HUNDRED YEARS
QUID HIC AGIS?
ON A MIDSUMMER EVE
TIMING HER (Written to an old folk-tune)
BEFORE KNOWLEDGE
THE BLINDED BIRD
“THE WIND BLEW WORDS”
THE FADED FACE
THE RIDDLE
THE DUEL
AT MAYFAIR LODGINGS
TO MY FATHER’S VIOLIN
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
THE BACKGROUND AND THE FIGURE (Lover’s Ditty)
THE CHANGE
SITTING ON THE BRIDGE (Echo of an old song)
THE YOUNG CHURCHWARDEN
“I TRAVEL AS A PHANTOM NOW”
LINES TO A MOVEMENT IN MOZART’S E-FLAT SYMPHONY
“IN THE SEVENTIES”
THE PEDIGREE
THIS HEART A WOMAN’S DREAM
WHERE THEY LIVED
THE OCCULTATION
LIFE LAUGHS ONWARD
THE PEACE-OFFERING
“SOMETHING TAPPED”
THE WOUND
A MERRYMAKING IN QUESTION
“I SAID AND SANG HER EXCELLENCE” (Fickle Lover’s Song)
A JANUARY NIGHT (1879)
A KISS
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
THE OXEN
THE TRESSES
THE PHOTOGRAPH
ON A HEATH
AN ANNIVERSARY
“BY THE RUNIC STONE” (Two who became a story)
THE PINK FROCK
TRANSFORMATIONS
IN HER PRECINCTS
THE LAST SIGNAL (Oct. 11, 1886) A MEMORY OF WILLIAM BARNES
THE HOUSE OF SILENCE
GREAT THINGS
THE CHIMES
THE FIGURE IN THE SCENE
“WHY DID I SKETCH”
CONJECTURE
THE BLOW
LOVE THE MONOPOLIST (Young Lover’s Reverie)
AT MIDDLE-FIELD GATE IN FEBRUARY
THE YOUTH WHO CARRIED A LIGHT
THE HEAD ABOVE THE FOG
OVERLOOKING THE RIVER STOUR
THE MUSICAL BOX
ON STURMINSTER FOOT-BRIDGE (ONOMATOPOEIC)
ROYAL SPONSORS
OLD FURNITURE
A THOUGHT IN TWO MOODS
THE LAST PERFORMANCE
“YOU ON THE TOWER”
THE INTERLOPER
LOGS ON THE HEARTH A MEMORY OF A SISTER
THE SUNSHADE
THE AGEING HOUSE
THE CAGED GOLDFINCH
AT MADAME TUSSAUD’S IN VICTORIAN YEARS
THE BALLET
THE FIVE STUDENTS
THE WIND’S PROPHECY
DURING WIND AND RAIN
HE PREFERS HER EARTHLY
THE DOLLS
MOLLY GONE
A BACKWARD SPRING
LOOKING ACROSS
AT A SEASIDE TOWN IN 1869 (Young Lover’s Reverie)
THE GLIMPSE
THE PEDESTRIAN AN INCIDENT OF 1883
“WHO’S IN THE NEXT ROOM?”
AT A COUNTRY FAIR
THE MEMORIAL BRASS: 186–
HER LOVE-BIRDS
PAYING CALLS
THE UPPER BIRCH-LEAVES
“IT NEVER LOOKS LIKE SUMMER”
EVERYTHING COMES
THE MAN WITH A PAST
HE FEARS HIS GOOD FORTUNE
HE WONDERS ABOUT HIMSELF
JUBILATE
HE REVISITS HIS FIRST SCHOOL
“I THOUGHT, MY HEART”
FRAGMENT
MIDNIGHT ON THE GREAT WESTERN
HONEYMOON TIME AT AN INN
THE ROBIN
“I ROSE AND WENT TO ROU’TOR TOWN” (She, alone)
THE NETTLES
IN A WAITING-ROOM
THE CLOCK-WINDER
OLD EXCURSIONS
THE MASKED FACE
IN A WHISPERING GALLERY
THE SOMETHING THAT SAVED HIM
THE ENEMY’S PORTRAIT
IMAGININGS
ON THE DOORSTEP
SIGNS AND TOKENS
PATHS OF FORMER TIME
THE CLOCK OF THE YEARS
AT THE PIANO
THE SHADOW ON THE STONE
IN THE GARDEN (M. H.)
THE TREE AND THE LADY
AN UPBRAIDING
THE YOUNG GLASS-STAINER
LOOKING AT A PICTURE ON AN ANNIVERSARY
THE CHOIRMASTER’S BURIAL
THE MAN WHO FORGOT
WHILE DRAWING IN A CHURCH-YARD
“FOR LIFE I HAD NEVER CARED GREATLY”
POEMS OF WAR AND PATRIOTISM
FINALE
FOOTNOTES
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE