Read "On a Heath" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I COULD hear a gown-skirt rustling / Before I could see her shape, / Rustling through the heather / That wove the common's drape, / On that evening of dark weather / When I hearkened, lips agape.
And the town-shine in the distance / Did but baffle here the sight, / And then a voice flew forward: / "Dear, is't you? I fear the night! " / And the herons flapped to norward / In the firs upon my right.
There was another looming / Whose life we did not see; / There was one stilly blooming / Full nigh to where walked we; / There was a shade entombing / All that was bright of me.