From her in the Country by Thomas Hardy — Read

I THOUGHT and thought of thy crass clanging town / To folly, till convinced such dreams were ill, / I held my heart in bond, and tethered down / Fancy to where I was, by force of will.

I said: How beautiful are these flowers, this wood, / One little bud is far more sweet to me / Than all man's urban shows; and then I stood / Urging new zest for bird, and bush, and tree;

And strove to feel my nature brought it forth / Of instinct, or no rural maid was I; / But it was vain; for I could not see worth / Enough around to charm a midge or fly,

And mused again on city din and sin, / Longing to madness I might move therein!