Poems of the Past and the Present. Thomas Hardy

to read my defects with a god-glance,

         Uncover each vestige

      Of old inadvertence, annunciate

         Each flaw and each stain!

      “My purpose went not to develop

         Such insight in Earthland;

      Such potent appraisements affront me,

         And sadden my reign!

      “Why loosened I olden control here

         To mechanize skywards,

      Undeeming great scope could outshape in

         A globe of such grain?

      1

      The “Race” is the turbulent sea-area off the Bill of Portland, where contrary tides meet.

      2

      Pronounce “Loddy.”