Time & Brevity

Farmer Dunman’s Funeral

by Thomas Hardy 1840–1928

From Human Shows, Far Phantasies, Songs and Trifles (1925)

Time & Brevity

Bury me on a Sunday,”
He said; “so as to see
Poor folk there. ’Tis their one day
To spare for following-me.”

And mindful 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.”

MLA

Hardy, Thomas. “Farmer Dunman’s Funeral.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/hardy/599/.

Chicago

Hardy, Thomas. “Farmer Dunman’s Funeral.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/hardy/599/.

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