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.
