'I Have Lived With Shades' Poem by Thomas Hardy

'I Have Lived With Shades'

Rating: 3.0


I

I have lived with shades so long,
And talked to them so oft,
Since forth from cot and croft
I went mankind among,
   That sometimes they
   In their dim style
   Will pause awhile
   To hear my say;

II

And take me by the hand,
And lead me through their rooms
In the To-be, where Dooms
Half-wove and shapeless stand:
   And show from there
   The dwindled dust
   And rot and rust
   Of things that were.

III

'Now turn,' spake they to me
One day: 'Look whence we came,
And signify his name
Who gazes thence at thee.' -
   - 'Nor name nor race
   Know I, or can,'
   I said, 'Of man
   So commonplace.

IV

'He moves me not at all;
I note no ray or jot
Of rareness in his lot,
Or star exceptional.
   Into the dim
   Dead throngs around
   He'll sink, nor sound
   Be left of him.'

V

'Yet,' said they, 'his frail speech,
Hath accents pitched like thine -
Thy mould and his define
A likeness each to each -
   But go! Deep pain
   Alas, would be
   His name to thee,
   And told in vain! '

'O memory, where is now my youth,
Who used to say that life was truth? '

'I saw him in a crumbled cot
   Beneath a tottering tree;
That he as phantom lingers there
   Is only known to me.'

'O Memory, where is now my joy,
Who lived with me in sweet employ? '

'I saw him in gaunt gardens lone,
   Where laughter used to be;
That he as phantom wanders there
   Is known to none but me.'

'O Memory, where is now my hope,
Who charged with deeds my skill and scope? '

'I saw her in a tomb of tomes,
   Where dreams are wont to be;
That she as spectre haunteth there
   Is only known to me.'

'O Memory, where is now my faith,
One time a champion, now a wraith? '

'I saw her in a ravaged aisle,
   Bowed down on bended knee;
That her poor ghost outflickers there
   Is known to none but me.'

'O Memory, where is now my love,
That rayed me as a god above? '

'I saw him by an ageing shape
   Where beauty used to be;
That his fond phantom lingers there
   Is only known to me.'

'I Have Lived With Shades'
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Bri Edwards 15 April 2022

I did not like it, nor did I finish reading it. The English may be too dated/old for me to understand. But I think I read a novel by T.H. once and liked it well enough. bri : )

0 1 Reply
Ekerendu M Ezekiel 03 July 2016

Awesomely Nice

0 0 Reply
* Sunprincess * 14 November 2015

............excellent write...beautifully penned with excellent imagery ★

0 0 Reply
Andrew Hoellering 15 June 2009

I would agree with the statement, and suggest you read the following poems, all reproduced here. Beeny Cliff and At Castle Boterel (both following the death of his first wife.) When I set out for Lyonnesse. I look into my Glass. The Darkling Thrush. In Time of Breaking of Nations. Channel Firing. The Man he Killed. Men who March Away. In Tenebris.

1 2 Reply
Andrew Fincham 20 April 2009

I've read today (? C. Tomlin's biography?) that the death of his estranged wife changed Hardy from a good to a great poet. Can anyone point me towards such poems? Thanks x

3 3 Reply
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Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

Dorchester / England
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