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National Poetry Month: Thomas Hardy

In honor of National Poetry Month:

Drummer Hodge

                    I
They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
        Uncoffined—just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest
        That breaks the veldt around;
And foreign constellations west
        Each night above his mound.

                    II
Young Hodge the Drummer never knew—
        Fresh from his Wessex home—
The meaning of the broad Karoo,
        The Bush, the dusty loam,
And why uprose to nightly view
        Strange stars amid the gloam.

                    III
Yet portion of that unknown plain
        Will Hodge for ever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
        Grow to some Southern tree,
And strange-eyed constellations reign
    His stars eternally.

—Thomas Hardy

— michael | April 30, 2007 02:39 PM | Reading rants & raves