Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A WATERING-PLACE LADY INVENTORIED, by THOMAS HARDY


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A WATERING-PLACE LADY INVENTORIED, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: A sweetness of temper unsurpassed and unforgettable
Last Line: And that (with a sigh) 'twas a pity she'd no one to treat her tenderly.


A SWEETNESS of temper unsurpassed and unforgettable,
A mole on the cheek whose absence would have been regrettable,
A ripple of pleasant converse full of modulation,
A bearing of inconveniences without vexation,
Till a cynic would find her amiability provoking,
Tempting him to indulge in mean and wicked joking.

Flawlessly oval of face, especially cheek and chin,
With a glance of a quality that beckoned for a glance akin,
A habit of swift assent to any intelligence broken,
Before the fact to be conveyed was fully spoken
And she could know to what her colloquist would win her, --
This from a too alive impulsion to sympathy in her, --
All with a sense of the ridiculous, keen yet charitable;
In brief, a rich profuse attractiveness unnarratable.

I should have added her hints that her husband prized her but slenderly,
And that (with a sigh) 'twas a pity she'd no one to treat her tenderly.





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