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The Masked Face

Hardy, Thomas (1840 - 1928)

Original Text: 
Collected Poems of Thomas Hardy (London: Macmillan and Co., 1932): 490. PR 4741 F32 Robarts Library.
1I found me in a great surging space,
2    At either end a door,
3And I said: "What is this giddying place,
4    With no firm-fixéd floor,
5    That I knew not of before?"
6    "It is Life," said a mask-clad face.
7I asked: "But how do I come here,
8    Who never wished to come;
9Can the light and air be made more clear,
10    The floor more quietsome,
11    And the doors set wide? They numb
12    Fast-locked, and fill with fear."
13The mask put on a bleak smile then,
14    And said, "O vassal-wight,
15There once complained a goosequill pen
16    To the scribe of the Infinite
17    Of the words it had to write
18    Because they were past its ken."

Notes

3] giddying: dizzying. Back to Line
14] vassal-wight: servant-person. Back to Line
Publication Start Year: 
1917
Publication Notes: 
Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (London: Macmillan, 1917): 191. H378 M645 1917 Fisher Rare Book Library
RPO poem Editors: 
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition: 
RPO 1998.
Rhyme: 
ababba