His Immortality

By Thomas Hardy

6/2/1840-1/11/1928

I

         I saw a dead man's finer part
Shining within each faithful heart
Of those bereft. Then said I: "This must be
         His immortality."

II

         I looked there as the seasons wore,
And still his soul continuously upbore
Its life in theirs. But less its shine excelled
         Than when I first beheld.

III

         His fellow-yearsmen passed, and then
In later hearts I looked for him again;
And found him--shrunk, alas! into a thin
         And spectral mannikin.

IV

         Lastly I ask--now old and chill -
If aught of him remain unperished still;
And find, in me alone, a feeble spark,
         Dying amid the dark.

DayPoems Poem No. 1050
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1050.html">His Immortality by Thomas Hardy</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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