At Castle Boterel

Thomas Hardy

As I drive to the junction of lane and highway,
And the drizzle bedrenches the waggonette,
I look behind at the fading byway,
And see on its slope, now glistening wet,
Distinctly yet

Myself and a girlish form benighted
In dry March weather. We climb the road
Beside a chaise. We had just alighted
To ease the sturdy pony's load
When he sighed and slowed.

What we did as we climbed, and what we talked of
Matters not much, nor to what it led,-
Something that life will not be balked of
Without rude reason till hope is dead,
And feeling fled.

It filled but a minute. But was there ever
A time of such quality, since or before,
In that hill's story? To one mind never,
Though it has been climbed, foot-swift, foot-sore,
By thousands more.

Primaeval rocks form the road's steep border,
And much have they faced there, first and last,
Of the transitory in Earth's long order;
But what they record in colour and cast
Is-that we two passed.

And to me, though Time's unflinching rigour,
In mindless rote, has ruled from sight
The substance now, one phantom figure
Remains on the slope, as when that night
Saw us alight.

I look and see it there, shrinking, shrinking,
I look back at it amid the rain
For the very last time; for my sand is sinking,
And I shall traverse old love’s domain
Never again.

this poem is about an old man revisiting the place where he had went with his old love a long long time ago. he went there to recapture the happy moment and his youth.

"I look back at it amid the rain for the very last time; for my sand is sinking" this shows that his time is up and he's dying soon. the sand is representative of the sand flowing in the hour glass.

"Something that life will not be balked of without rude reason till hope is dead, and feeling fled." this "something" that he is referring to is love. with hope and feelings, there is always love. and life gives us hope and feelings, therefore after death, there will be no more love. therefore we see in the last 2 line;"and i shall traverse old love's domain never again" this means that he will never fall in love again as he dies as he only had one love when he was alive.

i'll fall in love with anyone who tells write me a very very sentimental love poem.

i definitely will.

one needs great love to write a love poem. great emotions to write a good poem.

and a big heart to accept criticisms.

ilovepoets.

maybe except herbert. hughes is fabulous! :D:D

haha.

qiling is so funny.

HOW ON EARTH CAN U SWITCH AND SWOP EYECANDY!?!!??!

!*^&*%(^&;*&%^&#$@

kudos to beets and atiqah! i think they have put on a FABULOUS fight!

they owned the entire hockey match against vj!

we were draw all the way till the penalties. and we most prob will lose by only 1-2 penalties.

the match was breathtaking, nerve wrecking. especially the penalties and the short corners.

vj had like 4 short corners and they didn't even managed to score a goal.

and i realised everyone's just biased against nj.

i TOTALLY don't believe no one mugs.

if you do manage to scrape through to get into jc, it means that you DO mug for exams.

everyone mugs what!

what's the hoo huh about who mugs openly and who mugs behind closed closets?

isn't it better to mug openly than to be a closed closets mugger?

i actually despised those who openly announced that they don't mug but actually they are secretly leading a closed closet muggers' life.

come on, if you are a student, live you life as one. especially a jc student.

you won't even know how hard nj tries to make life better until you try to experience it yourself.

sometimes, i do see the school trying. trying too hard though, but i do appreciate the effort.

afterall, it's the people that matter, not the school

i'm being contradicting lah! i am supposed to hate nj.

but i just can't stand the misconception. can't stand.

what hath men not sought out and found

but his dear God?