The Dead Drummer
They throw in Drummer Hodge, to restUncoffined—just as found:His landmark is a kopje-crestThat breaks the veldt around;And foreign constellations westEach night above his mound.
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 viewStrange stars amid the gloam.
Yet portion of that unknown plainWill Hodge for ever be;His homely Northern breast and brainGrow up a Southern tree.And strange-eyed constellations reignHis stars eternally.
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