On A Heath

Topics: classic

I could hear a gown-skirt rustling Before I could see her shape, Rustling through the heather That wove the common's drape, On that evening of dark weather When I hearkened, lips agape. And the town-shine in the distance Did but baffle here the sight, And then a voice flew forward: Dear, is't you? I fear the night!" And the herons flapped to norward In the firs upon my right. There was another looming Whose life we did not see; There was one stilly blooming Full nigh to where walked we; There was a shade entombing All that was bright of me.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"I could hear a gown-skirt rustling..."

"On A Heath" is a quintessential example of Thomas Hardy's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Classified Tags

#classic

Related lines

"There was a singing woman Came riding across the mead At the time of the mild May weather, Tameless, tireless; This song she"

Thomas Hardy

"(M. H. 1772-1857) She told how they used to form for the country dances - "The Triumph," "The New-rigged Ship" - To the light of th"

Thomas Hardy

"What did it mean that noontide, when You bade me pluck the flower Within the other woman's bower, Whom I knew nought of then?"

Thomas Hardy

"Some say the spot is banned; that the pillar Cross-and-Hand Attests to a deed of hell; But of else than of bale is the mystic tale"

Thomas Hardy

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky, And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet, S"

John Clare

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Frank Sidgwick

"There was a singing woman Came riding across t..."

About this line

Classified Tags

Related lines

Join our literary Sanctuary