'Paying Calls' (poem) written by Thomas Hardy

I went by footpath and by stile

Beyond where the bustle ends,

Stayed here a mile and there a mile

And called upon some friends.


On certain ones I had not seen

For years past did I call,

And then on others who had been

The oldest friends of all.


It was the time of midsummer

When they had used to roam;

But now, though tempting was the air,

I found them all at home.


I spoke to one and other of them

By mound and stone and tree

Of things we had done ere days were dim,

But they spoke not to me.

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