Read "The Conformers" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
YES; we'll wed, my little fay, / And you shall write you mine, / And in a villa chastely gray / We'll house, and sleep, and dine. / But those night-screened, divine, / Stolen trysts of heretofore, / We of choice ecstasies and fine / Shall know no more.
The formal faced cohue / Will then no more upbraid / With smiting smiles and whisperings two / Who have thrown less loves in shade. / We shall no more evade / The searching light of the sun, / Our game of passion will be played, / Our dreaming done.
We shall not go in stealth / To rendezvous unknown, / But friends will ask me of your health, / And you about my own. / When we abide alone, / No leapings each to each, / But syllables in frigid tone / Of household speech.
When down to dust we glide / Men will not say askance, / As now: "How all the country side / Rings with their mad romance! " / But as they graveward glance / Remark: "In them we lose / A worthy pair, who helped advance / Sound parish views. "