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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE CHURCH AND THE WEDDING by THOMAS HARDY

Poet Analysis

First Line: I'LL RESTORE THIS OLD CHURCH FOR OUR MARRIAGE
Last Line: AND THEN NO MORE.
Subject(s): CHURCHES; MARRIAGE; CATHEDRALS; WEDDINGS; HUSBANDS; WIVES;

"I'LL restore this old church for our marriage:
I've ordered the plans:
Style of wedding your choice -- foot or carriage --
By license, or banns."

He restored it, as though built newly:
The bishop was won
To preach, who pronounced it truly
A thing well done.

But the wedding waits; long, long has waited;
And guesswork is dumb
Why those who were there to have mated
Do not come.

And when the nights moan like the wailings
Of souls sore-tried,
The folk say who pass the church-palings
They hear inside

Strange sounds as of anger and sadness
That cut the heart's core,
And shaken words bitter to madness;
And then no more.



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