Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOING AND STAYING, by THOMAS HARDY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOING AND STAYING, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The moving sun-shapes on the spray
Last Line: Alike dissolving.
Subject(s): Time


The moving sun-shapes on the spray,
The sparkles where the brook was flowing,
Pink faces, plightings, moonlit May, --
These were the things we wished would stay;
But they were going.

Seasons of blankness as of snow,
The silent bleed of a world decaying,
The moan of multitudes in woe, --
These were the things we wished would go;
But they were staying.

Then we looked closelier at Time,
And saw his ghostly arms revolving
To sweep off woeful things with prime,
Things sinister with things sublime
Alike dissolving.




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