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The Man He Killed
Read by Anthony Thwaite
by Thomas Hardy
The Man He Killed - Thomas Hardy - Read by Anthony Thwaite
The first two poems draw on Hardy's thoughts during the war between Britain and the South African Dutch, the so-called Boer War. This one, 'The Man He Killed', was dated 1902 by Hardy, and is meant to be spoken by a soldier.
The Man He Killed
“Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
“But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
“I shot him dead because —
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although
“He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.
“Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.”
Recording commissioned by the Poetry Archive, shared here with kind permission of the reader.