And meadow rivulets overflow,
And drops on gate bars hang in a row,
And rooks in families homeward go,
And so do I.

These lines come from Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Darkling Thrush” (written at the end of 1900 and published in 1901). The speaker stands outdoors on a bleak winter evening near the turn of the century, observing a landscape that feels exhausted and desolate. Against this backdrop, Hardy inserts small, homely signs of life and routine—water swelling in meadow channels, raindrops beading on ironwork, rooks returning to their nests—before the speaker also turns homeward. The moment is poised between public time (the century’s end) and private time (the day’s end), a characteristic Hardy setting for reflection and unease.

The stanza gathers ordinary rural details into a quiet cadence of return: water overflows its banks, droplets align on the gate, rooks go home “in families,” and the speaker follows suit. The repetition of “And” and the final plain statement “And so do I” emphasize inevitability and resignation—life continues by habit even when the larger scene feels wintry or spiritually drained. The rooks’ familial return hints at community and shelter, while the speaker’s solitary “I” suggests a more ambiguous homecoming. In the poem’s larger arc, this mundane movement toward home contrasts with the sudden, inexplicable song of the thrush, which introduces a fragile possibility of hope.