Thomas Hardy (Томас Гарди (Харди))
Farmer Dunman’s Funeral
‘Bury me on a Sunday,’ He said; ‘so as to see Poor folk there. ’Tis their one day To spare for following me.’ With forethought of that Sunday, He wrote, while he was well, On ten rum-bottles one day, ‘Drink for my funeral.’ They buried him on a Sunday, That folk should not be balked His wish, as ’twas their one day: And forty couple walked. They said: ‘To have it Sunday Was always his concern; His meaning being that one day He’d do us a good turn. ‘We must, had it been Monday, Have got it over soon, But now we gain, being Sunday, A jolly afternoon.’
Thomas Hardy’s other poems:
