The poem
A star looks down at me, And says: "Here I and you Stand each in our degree: What do you mean to do,—
Mean to do?"
I say: "For all I know, Wait, and let Time go by, Till my change come."—"Just so," The star says: "So mean I:— So mean I."
Waiting Both
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Poem, "Waiting Both" by Thomas Hardy
The poem is a wonderful, brief summation of Hardy's fatalism.
waiting both
While there is certainly a degree of fatalism in the poem, for whatever reason I find it almost reassuring or ennobling. I can't put my finger one exactly why. I like that even something as grand as a star has the exact same fate as we do.
Hardy's poetry is often overlooked. Much of it is beautiful. Very few of his poems, however, possess the combination of simplicity and profundity that this little poem does. I love it.