I have lived with Shades

I
I have lived with Shades so long,
So long have talked to them,
I sped to street and throng,
That sometimes they
In their dim style
Will pause awhile
To hear my say;

II
And take me by the hand,
And lead me through their rooms
In the To-Be, where Dooms
Half-wove and shapeless stand:
And show from dwindled dust
And rot and rust
Of things that were.

III
"Now turn," they said to me
One day: "Look whence we came,
And signify his name
Who gazes thence at thee" --
-- "Nor name nor race
Know I, or can,"
I said, "Of man
So commonplace."

IV
"He moves me not at all:
I note no ray or jot
Of rareness in his lot,
Or star exceptional.Into the dim
Dead throngs around
He'll sink, nor sound
Be left of him."

V
"Yet," said they, "his frail speech,
Hath accents pitched like thine --
Thy mould and his define
A likeness each to each --
But go! Deep pain
Alas, would be
His name to thee,
And told in vain!"

Thomas Hardy

(Gosto muito da poesia do Hardy.)