The Levelled Churchyard

By Thomas Hardy

6/2/1840-1/11/1928


"O passenger, pray list and catch
         Our sighs and piteous groans,
Half stifled in this jumbled patch
         Of wrenched memorial stones!

"We late-lamented, resting here,
         Are mixed to human jam,
And each to each exclaims in fear,
         'I know not which I am!'

"The wicked people have annexed
         The verses on the good;
A roaring drunkard sports the text
         Teetotal Tommy should!

"Where we are huddled none can trace,
         And if our names remain,
They pave some path or p-ing place
         Where we have never lain!

"There's not a modest maiden elf
         But dreads the final Trumpet,
Lest half of her should rise herself,
         And half some local strumpet!

"From restorations of Thy fane,
         From smoothings of Thy sward,
From zealous Churchmen's pick and plane
         Deliver us O Lord! Amen!"

DayPoems Poem No. 1068
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1068.html">The Levelled Churchyard by Thomas Hardy</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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