Poem by Thomas Hardy

Boys Then and Now

‘More than one cuckoo?’
And the little boy
Seemed to lose something
Of his spring joy.

When he’d grown up
He told his son
He’d used to think
There was only one,

Who came each year
With the trees’ new trim
On purpose to please
England and him:

And his son – old already
In life and its ways –
Said yawning: ‘How foolish
Boys were in those days!’

1. At the Word ‘Farewell’
2. The Supplanter
3. Afternoon Service at Mellstock
4. The Children and Sir Nameless
5. Tragedian to Tragedienne

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