 | Collected poems of Thomas Hardy |  |
82
AT THE WAR OFFICE, LONDON
Affixing the Lists of Killed and Wounded: December 1899)
I
Last year I called this world of gaingivingsThe darkest thinkable, and questioned sadly
If my own land could heave its pulse less gladly,
So charged it seemed with circumstance that brings
The tragedy of things.
II
Yet at that censured time no heart was rentOr feature blanched of parent, wife, or daughter
By hourly posted sheets of scheduled slaughter;
Death waited Nature's wont; Peace smiled unshent
From Ind to Occident.
| Collected poems of Thomas Hardy | |