| Thomas Hardy (1840–1928). Wessex Poems and Other Verses. 1898. |
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| 4. “In Vision I Roamed” |
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| IN vision I roamed the flashing Firmament, | |
| So fierce in blazon that the Night waxed wan, | |
| As though with an awed sense of such ostent; | |
| And as I thought my spirit ranged on and on | |
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| In footless traverse through ghast heights of sky, | 5 |
| To the last chambers of the monstrous Dome, | |
| Where stars the brightest here to darkness die: | |
| Then, any spot on our own Earth seemed Home! | |
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| And the sick grief that you were far away | |
| Grew pleasant thankfulness that you were near, | 10 |
| Who might have been, set on some outstep sphere, | |
| Less than a Want to me, as day by day | |
| I lived unware, uncaring all that lay | |
Locked in that Universe taciturn and drear.
1866. | |
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