Thomas Hardy — The Old Gown

I have seen her in gowns the brightest,        &nbsp Of azure, green, and red, And in the simplest, whitest,        &nbsp Muslined from heel to head; I have watched her walking, riding,        &nbsp Shade-flecked by a leafy tree, Or in fixed thought abiding        &nbsp By the foam-fingered sea. In woodlands I have known her,        &nbsp When boughs were mourning loud, In the rain-reek she has shown her        &nbsp Wild-haired and watery-browed. And once or twice she has cast me        &nbsp As she pomped along the street Court-clad, ere quite she had passed me,        &nbsp A glance from her chariot-seat. But in my memoried passion        &nbsp For evermore stands she In the gown of fading fashion        &nbsp She wore that night when we, Doomed long to part, assembled        &nbsp In the snug small room; yea, when She sang with lips that trembled,        &nbsp “Shall I see his face again?”