Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BIRTHDAY POEM FOR THOMAS HARDY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is birthday weather for you, dear soul
Last Line: Since you have been.
Alternate Author Name(s): Blake, Nicolas
Subject(s): Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928); Poetry & Poets


It is birthday weather for you, dear soul?
Is it fine your way,
With tall moon-daisies alight, and the mole
Busy, and elegant hares at play
By meadow paths where once you would stroll
In the flush of day?

I fancy the beasts and flowers there beguiled
By a visitation
That casts no shadow, a friend whose mild
Inquisitive glance lights with compassion,
Beyond the tomb, on all of this wild
And humbled creation.

It's hard to believe a spirit could die
Of such generous glow,
Or to doubt that somewhere a bird-sharp eye
Still broods on the capers of men below,
A stern voice asks the Immortals why
They should plague us so.

Dear poet, wherever you are, I greet you.
Much irony, wrong,
Innocence you'd find here to tease or entreat you,
And many the fate-fires have tempered strong,
But none that in ripeness of soul could meet you
Or magic of song.

Great brow, frail flame -- gone. Yet you abide
In the shadow and sheen,
All the mellowing traits of a countryside
That nursed your tragic-comical scene;
And in us, warmer-hearted and brisker-eyed
Since you have been.




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net