Neutral Tones

Thomas Hardy

     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.

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