Hello My friends, my xanga family and my real relatives.. I am not going to go through a huge introduction here. This is the second part of the Phase Six of Tess Of The D’Urbervilles. This phase was divided into two parts because of the length and details in this phase. I released the last part sometime in March 2008. I thought I will stop it there because of personal reasons. I finished this part and releasing it now as I thought it is necessary to end an era. This is the unedited version of this part which means I have a lot of editing to do before the final versions of all poems are done. As you may have read before I started writing these poems four and a half years ago and it is still not over yet. There will be two more large poems to come when I go through the last phase called “The Fulfillment”. I hope you all are patient to know it was worth taking this effort when I end these poems.
I love you all.
At the Vicarage the letter first reached,
Where Angel’s parents duly received,
The essence of the feelings of Tess.
From where it found its way,
To where Angel Clare lived,
As his parents Angel kept informed,
About his whereabouts in the foreign lands.
Angel’s parents knew and spoke,
That the letter may hasten Angel’s return,
As from the envelope they knew,
The letter was from Angel’s wife, estranged.
In pity and confusion of parents they spoke
About their son’s marriage, ill fated,
Though in the spoken words bitterness filled ,
Deep inside they are parents who only loved,
And only for the good of their son, wished.
The eyes and mind for which Tess’s letter went,
In the meanwhile were far, far away
In the depths of American south moving towards coast.
Upon the wild strange land Angel Clare suffered,
Illness of his body, depression of his mind,
In his own plight to find land,
For farming in the Brazilian wilderness found,
Mothers from English farms with infants trudge,
And would die of fever who were buried,
By those mothers with bare hands on loose earth,
Shed a tear and trudge on.
During his plight Angel mentally aged,
A dozen years in the months he spent,
In thoughts about the values in life,
Was less its beauty than its pathos,
Discrediting the appeasements of morality,
Questioning who was the moral man,
And more pertinently who was the moral woman,
And learned in the answers found,
The character of human lay,
Not only in achievements,
But also in intentions and impulses,
Not only in among things done,
But among things willed.
Through in his mind the memory of Tess passed,
In the exact time of her hardship at Flintcomb-Ash,
Thoughts of her silence came to his mind,
And in every way misinterpreted,
Oh’ even when in flesh and blood when she stood,
In front of him he only misunderstood,
For all that he asked her to do and not to do,
All thoughts to his mind brought,
The understanding that he could never reject,
But still the darkest part of manly pride,
Kept him from accepting her in all her purity.
Then in the vastness and wilderness of Brazil,
A country man, a stranger, he found,
Who saw more life and countries than Angel,
Who kept the same mental depression as Angel,
Far from home, alone in the middle of places unknown,
He became a man in Angle’s confidence,
After hearing what Angle told about Tess,
The stranger told what Tess had been through,
Was of no importance beside what she would be,
And told the wrong Angel did in leaving her.
Angel alone in the middle of nowhere was left
As a fateful thunderstorm brought,
Fever and death to his stranger friend,
His cursory remarks about the way Angel left,
His wife and in the far away lands wander,
Into his mind regrets and remorse brought
The words of Izz Huett again echoed,
That Tess would lay down her life for him,
And she herself could do no more.
Then gone through the cynical soliloquy,
That eventually changed Angel from,
A critic of Tess to the advocate of her,
In front of his depressed and confused conscience.
The reasoning of every husband for his wife,
The harshness of every lover to his love,
All merged in the mind of Angel Clare,
Then filled in that mind tenderness,
As flashes of their good times passed,
And thoughts about her fanciful family trait,
Alone in the Brazilian wilderness,
All those thoughts and daydreams prepared,
To find Tess’s devoted outpouring.
In the meanwhile Tess’s expectations about,
Angel’s return were great and small,
At the thought of the reasons of her parting,
With Angel never changed and will never change.
Still she prepared herself with ways,
She could do to please him best,
When at last from far away land he arrives.
She asked Izz’s boyfriend who knew Angel played,
Song in his harp to induce cows to let their milk.
The song “The break o’ the day” she practiced,
When away from other girls during her work,
With tears running through her cheek,
As thought of the one whom she meant these songs,
May never be heard by the one her heart belongs.
In those fanciful dreams her mind wrapped,
She forgot the way the days lengthened,
The Lady Day was at hand and soon would be followed
By the Old Lady Day, when her term at this farm ends.
But all her plans and preparations changed,
As all that she cared for, around her fell,
When on an evening someone knocked,
At the house where she lived,
And asked for Tess and in through the twilight came,
A figure with the height of a woman,
The breadth of a child, tall, thin,
When her name the figure uttered,
Tess jumped up all startled and asked,
“What is it Liza Lu?”
As a child Tess left her sister at home,
And in a year up she sprung,
To a girl that showed the innocent charm,
Once the whole Wessex seen,
In the form of Tess herself,
Now stands cold and pale with inexperience,
Tired of walking all day searching for Tess.
Liza Lu in image and character filled,
Those old little shoes of Tess,
Found her to tell their mother is badly ill,
And probably seeing her twilight days,
And their father is not very well either,
Who in stubborn D’Urberville nature says,
It is wrong for him, a man of high family,
To slave and sweat at common mans work.
A long time in reverie Tess stood,
As all combinations of choices passed,
Through her mind but none could make her stay,
And to a decision she came,
Though her agreement don’t end till old lady day,
Decided she to leave for home,
Begging Marion and Izz to plead,
Her case with the farmer.
Tucking Liza Lu into her own bed,
As the tired Liza cannot undertake,
Fifteen miles of walk at night,
Tess asked her to follow next day and left,
For home in the cold dark night.
Making darkness of the night a protection,
Tess ventured through familiar grounds,
The roads and by-roads silently she took,
Inns and villages with no fear she passed,
And at three the maze of lanes she turned,
Into Marlott passing the field where she met,
Angel first, when with her he did not danced,
The disappointment of that still she felt,
As close to her home fast she moved,
In recent times the home she only saw,
In imaginations, in the dark she saw in real.
She walked in as a candle in the dark, dark house,
A little light in a home where illness loomed,
Her father’s ill health and mother in death bed,
As the day broke through the thatches, she found,
The amazing growth of her siblings in a year she had gone,
Oh’ a moment at which her own care she forgot,
And put her heart and soul in the care of them.
Days passed and the sickness in the house lessened,
And her attention from indoors to outdoors turned,
Where in the season of sowing she worked hard,
To get the allotted plots of her family green,
The days grew long and sun shined high and bright,
Clouds sometime showered for the welfare of all,
A bit of peace to her mind came,
And in her dreams with Angel she always danced,
But the D’Urberville, the villain of her life,
Stalked her even in her plot in the gloom of dusk.
On that fateful gloomy dusk when away from Alec she left,
On her way Liza and other kids in tears came,
To give her the news of the death of her dear old dad.
Though in achievements not so lucky Mr.Durbeyfield maybe,
But the lease on their house ended with his life,
No more as freeloaders Durbeyfields in that house can live,
Once conquerors of land now homeless peasants,
Material life once more handed Durbeyfields defeat,
Still hopes about a soul in the mind of Tess, lingered.
The agro world into mobility went,
Around the old lady day in the Wessex lands,
Joan Durbeyfield to a defined decision came,
To move to Kingsbere where D’Urbervilles lay,
Knowing or unknowing a true D’Urbervile family,
Homeless, with a little hope for a plight prepare.
The day before the move a rainy one in Marlot,
Tess knelt on a bench and the falling rain she watched,
Then thoughts from the depths of mind sprouted,
As the return of her and restoration of a baby grave,
Oh’ those actions and her presence questioned,
By the society against which Joan fought,
And agreed to leave as soon as they can,
But for Tess, her mom and siblings could have stayed,
As weekly tenants in the home from birth they lived.
As the rain ceased to pour,
Tess near the window in her thoughts stayed,
Oh’ her thoughts far, far away from there ran,
As even when Alec D’Urbervilles arrival went unnoticed,
Woke up from her thoughts the casement she opened,
Welcoming an enemy with smile to her home came.
First Alec made fun of the dreaming Tess,
Then told old folklore about the D’Urvervilles,
The legend about the D’Urberville coach,
In which in old times a real D’Urberville abducted,
A beautiful woman and her struggle got herself killed,
Or she killed the pagan D’Urberville Alec was unsure,
Then he noticed all the thing packed,
For the reasons in eagerness he queried,
Tess told the reasons for their preparation for the plight,
As she is no proper woman in the eyes of the country side folks.
Alec the convert who first became a preacher,
Now in the masquerade of preacher the old wolf howled,
Yelled, screamed and the country folks he cursed,
To his home Tess and her family he invited,
Still prying on a prey who have only pain in her veins remain.
Tess in all her eloquence and charm declined,
Alec’s offer of help, though she very well knew,
Her husband in real had estranged her for too long,
The more she stay around her own family,
Would only hurt what she loves and in all surety,
The one who loves her, though no sign of his love found,
When the fake love of her enemy in all brightness,
All around her and the ones she care with her life found.
Alec left with his curses and screams,
Near the window looking at the gravel road Tess stayed,
For a long time deep in thoughts about that day,
Then a rush of tears consumed her as she thought,
How hard events, society and even her own dear husband dealt,
Though from the depths of her heart no wrong she ever intended,
Still all judgments without understanding her taken,
Leaving her and all she care in shame and evil minded enemy,
Who thrive on her tears spiritually and smiles in love so fake,
Offering help materially where so much of a peasant she was made.
Without more thoughts she passionately took,
A piece of paper and on with she wrote,
“O why have you treated me so monstrously,
Angel, I do not deserve it,
Thought about it all, all over so carefully,
And never, never can I forgive you,
You of all know very well I did not intend,
To wrong you, but why have you so wronged me,
You are cruel, cruel indeed that I will try,
To forget you, as it is injustice I received,
At your hands, injustice I have received.” T.
She gave the letter of bitterness and frustration,
To the postman who passed her home later,
Then got back to kneeling posture near the window,
Nothing changed in the months passed in Angel’s eyes,
As nothing new into his eyes Tess can bring forth,
But something new happened around her by that time,
As her younger ones around the fire place gathered,
And with them without giving much more thoughts,
To darker thoughts that grew darker Tess joined,
And told them it was the last night for them all,
In a place where they were born and grew up,
That made those little ones quiet as they knew not,
What to say or even think in their age of innocence.
Tess changed the subject and started singing,
Old folk songs and the children joined,
And as in singing they spent their evening,
Joan and Liza Lu back to home came,
As to her mother curious question about who came,
To their home Tess first said none,
When about the man on horse back children reminded,
Joan once more curiously asked,
If that was her husband who came.
To which with all irony and hopelessness Tess said,
“No he’ll never, never come”
Then to her dear old mother Tess assured,
She will tell her who came and what he said,
Every word, when in Kingsbere next day after they settle,
But once more said, it was not her husband who came,
Though the thought that in physical and material sense,
The one who came was alone her husband in her weighed in.
The small hours of the Marlot morning woke,
To the rumblings of a family leaving,
Tess her siblings and mother left,
For Kingsbere where Tess decided to wait,
For her estranged husband only memories remembered.
On the way Tess met Izz and Marion at an inn they stopped,
About the preacher looking for her, to Tess they told,
Whom she knows still will be in her trail,
They once again asked if her husband returned,
Tess answered in negative though in positive hoped,
After saying bye to her friends Tess and family continued,
To Kingsbere where later in the evening they reached,
To learn that the room they reserved there were gone,
As no word of their arrival the land lord received.
With little money and no home Joan with her children roamed,
All around Kingsbere to find lodgings for the night,
None they found and in the end before the church yard they came,
Joan in ironical tones told the wagoner to unload,
The household goods and their owners whose ancestors,
Lay in graves right beside where they stopped unnoticed by all.
Joan with Liza Lu to look for lodgings left,
As the little ones in the makeshift place rested,
Tess went around the church where she found,
Centuries old graves covered the yard where she entered,
For the first time in her life the church where her ancestors rests,
As through the dying day in the church yard walked,
She came to a stone that said,
“OSTIUM SEPULCHRI ANTIQUAE FAMILIAE D’URBERVILLE”
As through her fancy thoughts about ancestors walked,
The oldest effigy to which she looked and to her shock,
It moved and towards her side came,
In the fading light the almost fainting Tess saw,
The figure of Alec who came fast to hold her from falling.
Once more Alec and Tess argued in his offering for help,
And Alec asked her what he should do,
To which Tess gathering the cold of the evening,
And ancestral strength though dead and buried murmured,
“Go away”.
Alec left promising to try his luck,
With Joan where he knows lives the weakness of Tess.
After he left bend down on the vaults gates Tess said,
“Why am I on the wrong side of this door!”.
Meanwhile Izz and Marion continued their journey,
To almost an unknown destination in talks,
About Angel Clare and his unfortunate wife,
They talked in length about how he means nothing,
To both of them anymore and no more grudge to him they keep,
And to meant up the quarrel between Tess and Angel they decided,
But a new unknown place and re-establishing there too all attention,
As they settled down in a month they heard,
About the approaching return of Angel Clare,
Together they both came up with these lines,
“Honored Sir,
Look for your wife I you do love her,
In the same way she do love you,
For she is sore put by an enemy in shape of friend,
And the one who should be near but who is away,
A woman should not be try’d beyond her strength,
And continual dropping will wear away any stone,
Ay more a diamond.
From Two Well Wishers.”
The letter was addressed to the only place they knew,
About Angel Clare, the address of his parents,
They both in mixed emotions first sang aloud,
And in thoughts wept at the same time.
End of Phase the Sixth.
Here are the previous phases.
Tess Of The D’Urbervilles. Phase The First–The Maiden.
Tess Of The
D’Urbervilles-Phase The Second–Maiden No More
Tess Of The
D’Urbervilles-Phase The Third–The Rally.
Tess Of The D’Urbervilles Phase The Fourth–The Consequence.
Tess Of The D’Urbervilles Phase The Fifth–The Woman Pays-Part 1.
Tess Of The D’Urbervilles-Phase The Fifth-Part 2-The Plight, In Tears And Hope.
Tess Of The
D’Urbervilles-Phase The Sixth–The Convert-Part 1.
Here is the original text I followed to write this part of the Novel as a poem. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles-Phase The Sixth-The Convert