I Was Not He

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



I was not he-the man
Who used to pilgrim to your gate,
At whose smart step you grew elate,
And rosed, as maidens can,
For a brief span.

It was not I who sang
Beside the keys you touched so true
With note-bent eyes, as if with you
It counted not whence sprang
The voice that rang . . .

Yet though my destiny
It was to miss your early sweet,
You still, when turned to you my feet,
Had sweet enough to be
A prize for me!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

26 sec read
483

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAA CDDCC EFFEE
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 411
Words 87
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5

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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