I <br /> <br />They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest <br /> Uncoffined--just as found: <br />His landmark is a kopje-crest <br /> That breaks the veldt around; <br />And foreign constellations west <br /> Each night above his mound. <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />Young Hodge the Drummer never knew - <br /> Fresh from his Wessex home - <br />The meaning of the broad Karoo, <br /> The Bush, the dusty loam, <br />And why uprose to nightly view <br /> Strange stars amid the gloam. <br /> <br />III <br /> <br />Yet portion of that unknown plain <br /> Will Hodge for ever be; <br />His homely Northern breast and brain <br /> Grow up a Southern tree. <br />And strange-eyed constellations reign <br /> His stars eternally.<br /><br />Thomas Hardy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-dead-drummer/
