The Bridge of Lodi.

Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)



I

When of tender mind and body
  I was moved by minstrelsy,
And that strain "The Bridge of Lodi"
  Brought a strange delight to me.

II

In the battle-breathing jingle
  Of its forward-footing tune
I could see the armies mingle,
  And the columns cleft and hewn

III

On that far-famed spot by Lodi
  Where Napoleon clove his way
To his fame, when like a god he
  Bent the nations to his sway.

IV

Hence the tune came capering to me
  While I traced the Rhone and Po;
Nor could Milan's Marvel woo me
  From the spot englamoured so.

V

And to-day, sunlit and smiling,
  Here I stand upon the scene,
With its saffron walls, dun tiling,
  And its meads of maiden green,

VI

Even as when the trackway thundered
  With the charge of grenadiers,
And the blood of forty hundred
  Splashed its parapets and piers . . .

VII

Any ancient crone I'd toady
  Like a lass in young-eyed prime,
Could she tell some tale of Lodi
  At that moving mighty time.

VIII

So, I ask the wives of Lodi
  For traditions of that day;
But alas! not anybody
  Seems to know of such a fray.

IX

And they heed but transitory
  Marketings in cheese and meat,
Till I judge that Lodi's story
  Is extinct in Lodi's street.

X

Yet while here and there they thrid them
  In their zest to sell and buy,
Let me sit me down amid them
  And behold those thousands die . . .

XI

- Not a creature cares in Lodi
  How Napoleon swept each arch,
Or where up and downward trod he,
  Or for his memorial March!

XII

So that wherefore should I be here,
  Watching Adda lip the lea,
When the whole romance to see here
  Is the dream I bring with me?

XIII

And why sing "The Bridge of Lodi"
  As I sit thereon and swing,
When none shows by smile or nod he
  Guesses why or what I sing? . . .

XIV

Since all Lodi, low and head ones,
  Seem to pass that story by,
It may be the Lodi-bred ones
  Rate it truly, and not I.

XV

Once engrossing Bridge of Lodi,
  Is thy claim to glory gone?
Must I pipe a palinody,
  Or be silent thereupon?

XVI

And if here, from strand to steeple,
  Be no stone to fame the fight,
Must I say the Lodi people
  Are but viewing crime aright?

XVII

Nay; I'll sing "The Bridge of Lodi" -
  That long-loved, romantic thing,
Though none show by smile or nod he
  Guesses why and what I sing!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:09 min read
95

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCA DEDE CFAF AXAB GHGH XBXB AICI CFAF AJAJ KCKC CLAL MAMA CGAG BCBC CXAX DXDA CGAG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 2,253
Words 425
Stanzas 17
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, was not a Scottish Minister, not a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland nor a Professor of Eccesiastical History at Edinburgh University. more…

All Thomas Hardy poems | Thomas Hardy Books

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