Thomas Hardy Poem The Shadow on the Stone - Printable Poems for Kids - Poet Study

Thomas Hardy Poem The Shadow on the Stone - Printable Poems for Kids - Poet Study


" The Shadow on the Stone"
by Thomas Hardy

I went by the Druid stone

That broods in the garden white and lone,   

And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows   

That at some moments fall thereon

From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,   

And they shaped in my imagining

To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders   

Threw there when she was gardening.

I thought her behind my back,

Yea, her I long had learned to lack,

And I said: ‘I am sure you are standing behind me,   

Though how do you get into this old track?’   

And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf   

As a sad response; and to keep down grief

I would not turn my head to discover

That there was nothing in my belief.

Yet I wanted to look and see

That nobody stood at the back of me;

But I thought once more: ‘Nay, I’ll not unvision   

A shape which, somehow, there may be.’   

So I went on softly from the glade,

And left her behind me throwing her shade,   

As she were indeed an apparition—

My head unturned lest my dream should fade.

Printable Poems for Kids
Thomas Hardy - The Shadow and the Stone
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AUDIO READING of " The Shadow on the Stone " Poem
~ the Poetry Foundaton has and Audio Recording of a reading of the Poem
" The Shadow on the Stone by Thomas Hardy"
~ Hear the Audio Recording
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/2730


~ see the rest of our Thomas Hardy Poem Collection for Homeschooling Poetry Study


Thomas Hardy Poem The Shadow on the Stone - Printable Poems for Kids - Poet Study