Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses by Thomas Hardy
page 39 of 192 (20%)
page 39 of 192 (20%)
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So stripped they there, and fought, And the swords clicked and scraped, and the onsets sped; Till the husband fell; and his shirt was red With streams from his heart's hot cistern. Nought Could save him now; and the other, wrought Maybe to pity, said: "Why did you urge on this? Your wife assured you; and 't had better been That you had let things pass, serene In confidence of long-tried bliss, Holding there could be nought amiss In what my words might mean." Then, seeing nor ruth nor rage Could move his foeman more--now Death's deaf thrall - He wiped his steel, and, with a call Like turtledove to dove, swift broke Into the copse, where under an oak His horse cropt, held by a page. "All's over, Sweet," he cried To the wife, thus guised; for the young page was she. "'Tis as we hoped and said 't would be. He never guessed . . . We mount and ride To where our love can reign uneyed. He's clay, and we are free." |
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