A Broken Appointment

Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)



You did not come,
And marching Time drew on, and wore me numb.
Yet less for loss of your dear presence there
Than that I thus found lacking in your make
That high compassion which can overbear
Reluctance for pure lovingkindness' sake
Grieved I, when, as the hope-hour stroked its sum,
You did not come.

You love not me,
And love alone can lend you loyalty;
-I know and knew it. But, unto the store
Of human deeds divine in all but name,
Was it not worth a little hour or more
To add yet this: Once you, a woman, came
To soothe a time-torn man; even though it be
You love not me.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
262

Quick analysis:

Scheme AabcbcaA DdefefdD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 572
Words 116
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, was not a Scottish Minister, not a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland nor a Professor of Eccesiastical History at Edinburgh University. more…

All Thomas Hardy poems | Thomas Hardy Books

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