[Lance Levens]

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.





Drummer Vaughn
-de/composed from Hardy

I

They throw in Drummer Vaughn to rest
Uncoffined, just as found;
His landmark is a little crest
That marks the landscape 'round,
And strange stars circle toward the west
Each night above his mound.

II

Young Vaughn the Drummer never knew--
Fresh from his London home--
The meaning of that country's hue,
The woods he had to roam.
Or why strange stars rose into view
Each night in heaven's dome.

III

A part, though, of that foreign plain
Vaughn will now come to be;
His simple English heart and brain
Become some tropic tree;
Strange constellations will remain
Above him endlessly.