Neutral Tones
1867
We stood by a pond that winter day,
And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,
And a few leaves lay on the starving sod,
–They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.
Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles solved years ago;
And some words played between us to and fro–
On which lost the more by our love.
The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing
Alive enough to have strength to die;
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
Like an ominous bird a-wing….
Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,
And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me
Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree,
And a pond edged with grayish leaves
Thomas Hardy
Born: 2 June 1840, Dorset, England
Nationality: English
Died: 11 January 1928, Dorset, England
Hardy was a novelist and poet. A Victorian realist his novel and poetry were influenced by Romanticism. Hardy was often highly critical of Victorian society, especially that of the declining status of people living and working in rural areas such as his native Southwest England
Jezzie G 