Thomas Hardy — In Time Of

I Only a man harrowing clods In a slow silent walk With an old horse that stumbles and nods Half asleep as they stalk. II Only thin smoke without flame From the heaps of couch-grass; Yet this will go onwards the same Though Dynasties pass. III Yonder a maid and her wight Go whispering by: War's annals will cloud into night Ere their story die.