Wessex Poems by Thomas Hardy - 29/48. The Ivy-Wife (read by Libby Gohn)

Thomas Hardy
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1 Video View·Oct 5, 2023
XXIX. THE IVY WIFE
I longed to love a full-bowed beech, And be as high as he.
I stretched an arm within his reach, And signalled unity.
But with his drip he forced a breach, And tried to poison me.
I gave the grasp of partnership To one of other race, a plane.
He barked him strip by strip From upper bow to base,
And left me therewith My arms could not enlace.
In new affection next I strove To call an ash I saw,
And he in trust received my love, Till with my soft green claw
I cramped and bound him as I wove.
Such was my love, ha-ha!
By this I gained his strength and height Without his rivalry.
But in my triumph I lost sight Of afterhaps.
Soon he, being bark-bound, flagged, snapped, Fell outright, and in his fall felled me.
