Thomas Hardy: A Commonplace Day
The DayPoems Poetry Collection
Timothy Bovee, editor
www.daypoems.net



  Click on the bonsai for the next poem.



DayPoems Forum

Click to submit poems to DayPoems, comment on DayPoems or a poem within, comment on other poetry sites, update links, or simply get in touch. DayPoems Forum.

DayPoems Front

Poetry Whirl
  Thomas Hardy in Wikipedia
  Google Thomas Hardy
  Latest Poetry News

Indexes
  Poems
  Poets
  Editor's poems
  Poetry Places

Poetry Places
  Smithsonian Magazine - "The Limerick is Furtive and Mean..."
  Magnetic Poetry
  A Pilgrim's Way
  Writers in Electronic Residence: Lorna Crozier
  Academy of American Poets: Stevens Exhibit
  Poets Unlimited

Nodes powered by
Open Directory Project<br>at dmoz.org
Open Directory Project at dmoz.org


DayPoems Favorites

  PORT: An Online Visual Arts Journal
  A Poet on a Magical Journey Home
  Chronicles of a Sea Woman
  Parallels Studio
  Bipolar Poetry
  Mantra.X
  Poetry, Film and Books
  Poetry Archive

  Project Gutenberg, a huge collection of books as text, produced as a volunteer enterprise starting in 1990. This is the source of the first poetry placed on DayPoems.
  Tina Blue's Beginner's Guide to Prosody, exactly what the title says, and well worth reading.
  Epicanthic Fold: "If a guy somewhere in Asia makes a blog and no one reads it, does it really exist?"
  popomo.net, miniature, minimalist-inspired sculptures created from industrial cereamics, an art project at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
  pink.popomo.net, More projects from Portland
  oarena.net, Furby, Eliza, Mr_Friss and Miss_Friss.
  Save Point 0.8.1, a Portland, Oregon, exhibit, Aug. 13-Sept. 5, 2004, at Disjecta.




D
a
y
P
o
e
m
s

*
D
a
y
P
o
e
m
s

*
D
a
y
P
o
e
m
s

*
D
a
y
P
o
e
m
s

*
D
a
y
P
o
e
m
s

*
D
a
y
P
o
e
m
s

*
D
a
y
P
o
e
m
s

Click here!
Won't you help support DayPoems?

A Commonplace Day

6/2/1840-1/11/1928


The day is turning ghost,
And scuttles from the kalendar in fits and furtively,
         To join the anonymous host
Of those that throng oblivion; ceding his place, maybe,
         To one of like degree.

         I part the fire-gnawed logs,
Rake forth the embers, spoil the busy flames, and lay the ends
         Upon the shining dogs;
Further and further from the nooks the twilight's stride extends,
         And beamless black impends.

         Nothing of tiniest worth
Have I wrought, pondered, planned; no one thing asking blame or
praise,
         Since the pale corpse-like birth
Of this diurnal unit, bearing blanks in all its rays -
         Dullest of dull-hued Days!

         Wanly upon the panes
The rain slides as have slid since morn my colourless thoughts; and
yet
         Here, while Day's presence wanes,
And over him the sepulchre-lid is slowly lowered and set,
         He wakens my regret.

         Regret--though nothing dear
That I wot of, was toward in the wide world at his prime,
         Or bloomed elsewhere than here,
To die with his decease, and leave a memory sweet, sublime,
         Or mark him out in Time . . .

         --Yet, maybe, in some soul,
In some spot undiscerned on sea or land, some impulse rose,
         Or some intent upstole
Of that enkindling ardency from whose maturer glows
         The world's amendment flows;

         But which, benumbed at birth
By momentary chance or wile, has missed its hope to be
         Embodied on the earth;
And undervoicings of this loss to man's futurity
         May wake regret in me.


Back to top

DayPoems Poem No. 1019



Comment on DayPoems?

If you are like us, you have strong feelings about poetry, and about each poem you read. Let it all out! Comment on this poem, any poem, DayPoems, other poetry places or the art of poetry at DayPoems Feedback.



Won't you help support DayPoems?


Click here to learn more about how you can keep DayPoems on the Web . . .


Copyright

The DayPoems web site, www.daypoems.net, is copyright 2001-2005 by Timothy K. Bovee. All rights reserved.

The authors of poetry and other material appearing on DayPoems retain full rights to their work. Any requests for publication in other venues must be negotiated separately with the authors. The editor of DayPoems will gladly assist in putting interested parties in contact with the authors.

Google DayPoems


Support DayPoems.

Buy your books here

Latest Chapbooks from Powells!!!

 
Search:
Keywords:
In Association with Amazon.com







Bonsai courtesy of
The Online Bonsai Icon Collection
http://www.hav.com/tobic.html