The Oxen
Thomas Hardy
1840 to 1928
Drag the words to the correct places to complete the poem. To reset the game, click on the "Reset Game" button located below the poem. This will clear all the words you've placed in the blanks, returning them to the word bank and resetting the poem to its original state with empty blanks.
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they ______ all on their knees,"
An elder said as ______ sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt ______ their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one ______ us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So ______ a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, ______ feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see ______ oxen kneel,
"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
______ childhood used to know,"
I should go with ______ in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.