At Tea - Thomas Hardy
The kettle descants in a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks in her husband's face,
And then at her guest's, and shows in her own
Her sense that she fills an envied place;
And the visiting lady is all abloom,
And says there was never so sweet a room.
And the happy young housewife does not know
That the woman beside her was first his choice,
Till the fates ordained it could not be so....
Betraying nothing in look or voice
The guest sits smiling and sips her tea,
And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.
And the young wife looks in her husband's face,
And then at her guest's, and shows in her own
Her sense that she fills an envied place;
And the visiting lady is all abloom,
And says there was never so sweet a room.
And the happy young housewife does not know
That the woman beside her was first his choice,
Till the fates ordained it could not be so....
Betraying nothing in look or voice
The guest sits smiling and sips her tea,
And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.
In a Bath Tea Shop - John Betjeman
“Let us not speak, for the love we bear one another—
Let us hold hands and look.”
She such a very ordinary little woman;
He such a thumping crook;
But both, for a moment, little lower than the angels
In the teashop’s ingle-nook.
4 comments:
Beautiful! These two poems gave me goosebumps.
Good ol' John Betjeman love that poem, not heard it before. Going to save it in my 'interesting' things file. :)
As for Hardy I'm afraid I'm not generally a fan, for me he verges from bittersweet to, 'What the heck are you doing to that pig!' spiral of despair. I'm more of a Longfellow poem type girl. When I first started reading this poem I thought, "Is Hardy's poem really just going to be a sweet bit of rhyme?"...but no, there has to be a twist. I'll forgive Hardy anything for Far From the Madding Crowd though.
Hi Pom Pom
I'm glad you liked the poems. I know the Betjeman quite well, but the Hardy was new to me and I wanted to share it.
Hi Sunshine
I have a love/hate relationship with Hardy too. I just want to slap every character in Tess. However, I do love Far from the Madding Crowd and I prefer his poetry. Check out "The Ruined Maid", it's good and it's on the GCSE syllabus now.
Thanks, I'm not familiar with The Ruined Maid I'll have a little look-see. Tess is most annoying I agree. Hardy'd be turning in his grave right now, he hated a bad review. :)
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