while
that vision could vex or that knowledge
could numb,
That sweets to the mouth in the belly are bitter, and tart, and
untoward,
Then, on some dim-coloured scene should my briefly raised curtain have
lowered,
Then might the Voice that is law have said "Cease!
could numb,
That sweets to the mouth in the belly are bitter, and tart, and
untoward,
Then, on some dim-coloured scene should my briefly raised curtain have
lowered,
Then might the Voice that is law have said "Cease!
Thomas Hardy - Poems of the Past and Present
