I <br /> <br /> I saw a dead man's finer part <br />Shining within each faithful heart <br />Of those bereft. Then said I: "This must be <br /> His immortality." <br /> <br />II <br /> <br /> I looked there as the seasons wore, <br />And still his soul continuously upbore <br />Its life in theirs. But less its shine excelled <br /> Than when I first beheld. <br /> <br />III <br /> <br /> His fellow-yearsmen passed, and then <br />In later hearts I looked for him again; <br />And found him--shrunk, alas! into a thin <br /> And spectral mannikin. <br /> <br />IV <br /> <br /> Lastly I ask--now old and chill - <br />If aught of him remain unperished still; <br />And find, in me alone, a feeble spark, <br /> Dying amid the dark.<br /><br />Thomas Hardy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/his-immortality/
