72 Drummer Hodge

I

They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
Uncoffined – just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest^[1]
That breaks the veldt^[2] 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^[3],
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 forever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
Grow to some Southern tree,
And strange-eyed constellations reign
His stars eternally.

— 1901