I said to Love,
"It is not now as in old days
When men adored thee and thy ways
All else above;
Named thee the Boy, the Bright, the One
Who spread a heaven beneath the sun,"
I said to Love.
I said to him,
"We now know more of thee than then;
We were but weak in judgment when,
With hearts abrim,
Having given the allegorical Love a capital letter, Hardy now refers to ‘him’; an ordinary pronoun. This is the point where we can speculate that the older Hardy is referring to his younger self. 
 The poet repeats ‘I said to him’ at the end of the stanza, establishing the same pattern as the first, so that the rhythmic quality is reinforced.
I Said to Love