The Complete Poetical Works. Томас Харди

      To Lizbie Browne

       Table of Contents

      I

      Dear Lizbie Browne,

       Where are you now?

       In sun, in rain?—

       Or is your brow

       Past joy, past pain,

       Dear Lizbie Browne?

      II

      Sweet Lizbie Browne

       How you could smile,

       How you could sing!—

       How archly wile

       In glance-giving,

       Sweet Lizbie Browne!

      III

      And, Lizbie Browne,

       Who else had hair

       Bay-red as yours,

       Or flesh so fair

       Bred out of doors,

       Sweet Lizbie Browne?

      IV

      When, Lizbie Browne,

       You had just begun

       To be endeared

       By stealth to one,

       You disappeared

       My Lizbie Browne!

      V

      Ay, Lizbie Browne,

       So swift your life,

       And mine so slow,

       You were a wife

       Ere I could show

       Love, Lizbie Browne.

      VI

      Still, Lizbie Browne,

       You won, they said,

       The best of men

       When you were wed . . .

       Where went you then,

       O Lizbie Browne?

      VII

      Dear Lizbie Browne,

       I should have thought,

       “Girls ripen fast,”

       And coaxed and caught

       You ere you passed,

       Dear Lizbie Browne!

      VIII

      But, Lizbie Browne,

       I let you slip;

       Shaped not a sign;

       Touched never your lip

       With lip of mine,

       Lost Lizbie Browne!

      IX

      So, Lizbie Browne,

       When on a day

       Men speak of me

       As not, you’ll say,

       “And who was he?”—

       Yes, Lizbie Browne!