by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
A wife in London
Language: English
She sits in the tawny vapour That the Thames-side lanes have uprolled, Behind whose webby fold on fold Like a waning taper The street-lamp glitters cold. A messenger's knock cracks smartly, Flashed news is in her hand Of meaning it dazes to understand Though shaped so shortly: He - has fallen - in the far South Land... 'Tis the morrow; the fog hangs thicker, The postman nears and goes: A letter is brought whose lines disclose By the firelight flicker His hand, whom the worm now knows: Fresh-firm-penned in highest feather - Page-full of his hoped return, And of home-planned jaunts by brake and burn In the summer weather, And of new love that they would learn.
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), appears in Poems of the Past and Present, first published 1901 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Garth Baxter (b. 1946), "A wife in London" [ satb chorus and piano ], from The Battle Cry, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Pierre Herman Joubert (1927 - 2019), "A wife in London", op. 109 no. 2 (1985), from South of the Line, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Garth Baxter
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 117