Poem by Thomas Hardy

A Military Appointment

       (Scherzando)

‘So back you have come from the town, Nan, dear!
And have you seen him there, or near –
That soldier of mine –
Who long since promised to meet me here?’

‘ – O yes, Nell: from the town I come,
And have seen your lover on sick-leave home –
That soldier of yours –
Who swore to meet you, or Strike-him-dumb;

‘But has kept himself of late away;
Yet, – in short, he’s coming, I heard him say –
That lover of yours –
To this very spot on this very day.’

‘ – Then I’ll wait, I’ll wait, through wet or dry!
I’ll give him a goblet brimming high –
This lover of mine –
And not of complaint one word or sigh!’

‘– Nell, him I have chanced so much to see,
That – he has grown the lover of me! –
That lover of yours –
And it’s here our meeting is planned to be.’

1. At the Word ‘Farewell’
2. The Three Tall Men
3. The Dead Bastard
4. The Supplanter
5. Evening Shadows

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