Friday, September 30, 2022

Freshness, Fairness, Fulness, Fineness, Freeness

 Lines
To a Movement in Mozart's E-Flat Symphony
by Thomas Hardy
  

Show me again the time
 When in the Junetide's prime
 We flew by meads and mountains northerly!
 Yea, to such freshness, fairness, fulness, fineness, freeness,
 Love lures life on. 

 Show me again the day
 When from the sandy bay
 We looked together upon the pestered sea!--
Yea, to such surging, swaying, sighing, swelling, shrinking,
 Love lures life on. 

 Show me again the hour
 When by the pinnacled tower
We eyed each other and feared futurity!
Yea, to such bodings, broodings, beatings, blanchings, blessings,
 Love lures life on.  

Show me again just this: 
The moment of that kiss
Away from the prancing folk, by the strawberry-tree!
Yea, to such rashness, ratheness, rareness, ripeness, richness,
Love lures life on. 

'Ratheness' is an old word meaning 'earliness', particularly in the sense of having come unusually swiftly.