A Wife in London
December 1899
I--The Tragedy
She sits in the tawny vapour
That the City lanes have uprolled,
The poem was written during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) fought between the British and Boer settlers in South Africa. Though the war is never specified, the reference to the ‘far South Land’ identifies it.  Even so, the vagueness may indicate Hardy’s intention that this should be any war in any era.
A Wife in London