The Selfsame Song lyrics
 by Thomas Hardy
		
		
A bird bills the selfsame song,
With never a fault in its flow,
That we listened to here those long
           Long years ago.
A pleasing marvel is how
A strain of such rapturous rote
Should have gone on thus till now
           Unchanged in a note!
- But it’s not the selfsame bird. -
No: perished to dust is he . . .
As also are those who heard
           That song with me.