THOMAS HARDY

"His Immortality"

____________________

I

   I saw a dead man's finer part

Shining within each faithful heart

Of those bereft. Then said I: "This must be

   His immortality."

II

   I looked there as the seasons wore,

And still his soul continuously upbore

Its life in theirs. But less its shine excelled

   Than when I first beheld.

III

   His fellow-yearsmen passed, and then

In later hearts I looked for him again;

And found him--shrunk, alas! into a thin

   And spectral mannikin.

IV

   Lastly I ask--now old and chill -

If aught of him remain unperished still;

And find, in me alone, a feeble spark,

   Dying amid the dark.