THOMAS HARDY 1840-1928

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EPEISODIA*

Past the hills that peep

Where the leaze is smiling,

On and on beguiling

Crisply-cropping sheep;

Under boughs of brushwood

Linking tree and tree

In a shade of lushwood,

   There caressed we!

Hemmed by city walls

That outshut the sunlight,

In a foggy dun light,

Where the footstep falls

With a pit-pat wearisome

In its cadency

On the flagstones drearisome

   There pressed we!

Where in wild-winged crowds

Blown birds show their whiteness

Up against the lightness

Of the clammy clouds;

By the random river

Pushing to the sea,

Under bents that quiver

   There rest we.

*Epeisodia - an episode. The word refers to an interlude or section in ancient Greek drama.

Thomas Hardy was an English poet and novelist, author of Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Mayor of Casterbridge.

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