The journey by Thomas Hardy

Hereto I come to view a voiceless ghost;
Whither, O whither will its whim now draw me?
Up the cliff, down, till I’m lonely, lost,
And the unseen waters’ ejaculations awe me. the sound of the sea
Where you will next be there’s no knowing,
Facing round about me everywhere,
With your nut-coloured hair,
And gray eyes, and rose-flush coming and going. Emma’s rose pink cheeks
Yes: I have re-entered your olden haunts at last; the places where you often used to go
Through the years, through the dead scenes I have tracked you;
What have you now found to say of our past –
Viewed across the dark space wherein I have lacked you?
Summer gave us sweets, but autumn wrought division?
Things were not lastly as firstly well
With us twain, you tell? twain – two
But all’s closed now, despite Time’s derision. derision – mocking
I see what you are doing: you are leading me on
To the spots we knew when we haunted here together, often used to go
The waterfall, above which the mist-bow shone
At the then fair hour in the then fair weather,
And the cave just under, with a voice still so hollow
That it seems to call out to me from forty years ago,
When you were all aglow,
And not the thin ghost that I now frailly follow!
Ignorant of what there is flitting here to see, flitting – moving quickly from place to place
The waked birds preen and the seals flop lazily, preen – clean themselves, arrange their feathers
Soon you will have, Dear, to vanish from me, ghosts are said to vanish at daybreak
For the stars close their shutters and the dawn whitens hazily.
Trust me, I mind not, though Life lours, lours – looks gloomy
The bringing me here; nay, bring me here again!
I am just the same as when
Our days were a joy, and our paths through flowers.