At Tea
Thomas Hardy
- THE kettle descants in a cosy drone,
 - And the young wife looks in her husband's face,
 - And then in her guest's, and shows in her own
 - Her sense that she fills an envied place;
 - And the visiting lady is all abloom,
 - And says there was never so sweet a room.
 - And the happy young housewife does not know
 - That the woman beside her was his first choice,
 - Till the fates ordained it could not be so....
 - Betraying nothing in look or voice
 - The guest sits smiling and sips her tea,
 - And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.
 

