Absolute beauty. Hardy must have been writing from personal feelings.
It is a nice poem, isn't it?
There's some more info that may be of interest here:
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/forum/?thread=23046&message=521491
G x
[EDIT - Ah! there's an accompanying photo taken by Gerald here! http://megalithicpoems.blogspot.com/2007/07/max-gate-image-credit-gerald-ponting.html]