Read "To an Orphan Child" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
A WHIMSEY
AH, child, thou art but half thy darling mother's; / Hers couldst thou wholly be, / My light in thee would outglow all in others; / She would relive to me. / But niggard Nature's trick of birth / Bars, lest she overjoy, / Renewal of the loved on earth / Save with alloy.
The Dame has no regard, alas, my maiden, / For love and loss like mine- / No sympathy with mind-sight memory-laden; / Only with fickle eyne. / To her mechanic artistry / My dreams are all unknown, / And why I wish that thou couldst be / But One's alone!