Read "The Problem" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
SHALL we conceal the Case, or tell it- / We who believe the evidence? / Here and there the watch-towers knell it / With a sullen significance, / Heard of the few who hearken intently and carry an eagerly upstrained sense.
Hearts that are happiest hold not by it; / Better we let, then, the old view reign; / Since there is peace in it, why decry it? / Since there is comfort, why disdain? / Note not the pigment the while that the painting determines humanity's joy and pain!