Langs romerveien

Ikke fordi det er dystert, ikke fordi det er særskilt dypsindig. Ganske enkelt fordi det er vakkert. Og fordi det alltid er vederkvegende å vende tilbake til Wessex' natur i selskap med Thomas Hardy. Diktet er fra samlingen Time's Laughingstocks fra 1909.

The Roman Road
The Roman Road runs straight and bare
As the pale parting-line in hair
Across the heath. And thoughtful men
Contrast its days of Now and Then,
And delve, and measure, and compare;

Visioning on the vacant air
Helmeted legionnaires, who proudly rear
The Eagle, as they pace again
The Roman Road.

But no tall brass-helmeted legionnaire
Haunts it for me. Uprises there
A mother's form upon my ken,
Guiding my infant steps, as when
We walked that ancient thoroughfare,
The Roman Road.