Read "Architectural Masks" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I. THERE is a house with ivied walls, / And mullioned windows worn and old, / And the long dwellers in those halls / Have souls that know but sordid calls, / And daily dote on gold.
II. In blazing brick and plated show / Not far away a "villa" gleams, / And here a family few may know, / With book and pencil, viol and bow, / Lead inner lives of dreams.
III. The philosophic passers say, / "See that old mansion mossed and fair, / Poetic souls therein are they: / And O that gaudy box! Away, / You vulgar people there. "