The Man He Killed -- Thomas Hardy

Guest poem submitted by Jeff Berndt:

(Poem #479) 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." -- Thomas Hardy

I don't know how you feel about Thomas Hardy.  Most people know him as a writer
of novels, but here's a poem of his that I ran across some days ago.  The
message in this poem is obvious--no subtleties here.  But I still like it.  I
don't know anything about when exactly Hardy wrote this poem or in response to
what incident; if anybody does, I wouldn't mind hearing about it.

Jeff.