Thomas Hardy — Gods Education

I saw him steal the light away          That haunted in her eye: It went so gently none could say More than that it was there one day          And missing by-and-by. I watched her longer, and he stole          Her lily tincts and rose; All her young sprightliness of soul Next fell beneath his cold control,          And disappeared like those. I asked: "Why do you serve her so?          Do you, for some glad day, Hoard these her sweets—?" He said, "O no, They charm not me; I bid Time throw          Them carelessly away." Said I: "We call that cruelty -          We, your poor mortal kind." He mused. "The thought is new to me. Forsooth, though I men's master be,          Theirs is the teaching mind!"