Explore "Before Life and After" by Thomas Hardy on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A TIME there was-as one may guess / And as, indeed, earth's testimonies tell- / Before the birth of consciousness, / When all went well.
None suffered sickness, love, or loss, / None knew regret, starved hope, or heart-burnings; / None cared whatever crash or cross / Brought wrack to things.
If something ceased, no tongue bewailed, / If something winced and waned, no heart was wrung; / If brightness dimmed, and dark prevailed, / No sense was stung.
But the disease of feeling germed, / And primal rightness took the tinct of wrong; / Ere nescience shall be reaffirmed / How long, how long?