Thomas Hardy(1840–1928)
Drummer Hodge
They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
Uncoffined—just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest4
That breaks the veldt around;
And foreign constellations west 5
Each night above his mound.
Young Hodge the Drummer never knew—
Fresh from his Wessex home—
The meaning of the broad Karoo,
The Bush, 6 the dusty loam,
And why uprose to nightly view
Strange stars amid the gloam.
Yet portion of that unknown plain
Will Hodge forever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
Grow to some Southern tree,
And strange-eyed constellations reign
His stars eternally.
1902