The Poetry Corner

I Rose And Went To Rou'tor Town

By Thomas Hardy

(She, alone) I rose and went to Rou'tor Town With gaiety and good heart, And ardour for the start, That morning ere the moon was down That lit me off to Rou'tor Town With gaiety and good heart. When sojourn soon at Rou'tor Town Wrote sorrows on my face, I strove that none should trace The pale and gray, once pink and brown, When sojourn soon at Rou'tor Town Wrote sorrows on my face. The evil wrought at Rou'tor Town On him I'd loved so true I cannot tell anew: But nought can quench, but nought can drown The evil wrought at Rou'tor Town On him I'd loved so true!