Read "The Chimes" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
THAT morning when I trod the town / The twitching chimes of long renown / Played out to me / The sweet Sicilian sailors' tune, / And I knew not if late or soon / My day would be:
A day of sunshine beryl-bright / And windless; yea, think as I might, / I could not say, / Even to within years' measure, when / One would be at my side who then / Was far away.
When hard utilitarian times / Had stilled the sweet Saint-Peter's chimes / I learnt to see / That bale may spring where blisses are, / And one desired might be afar / Though near to me.