A shropshire lad

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Wm. Tyrrell & Ckx,
Toronto
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
SHROPSHIRE LAD
A. E.
HO US MAN
JOHN LANE COMPANY
THE BODLEY HEAD, NEW YORK
MCMXVII
PR
630001'
29 7. ^L
CONTENTS
Page
No.
I.
From Clee to heaven the beacon burns
II.
Loveliest of trees, the cherry
III.
Leave your home behhid, lad
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
XII.
XIII.
.
3
.
....
Wake the silver dusk returning ...
Oh see how thick the goldcup flowers
When the lad for longing sighs ...
When smoke stood up from Ludlow
Farewell to barn and stack and tree
4
6
:
.
On
air
On your midnight pallet lying
When I watch the living meet
When I was one-and-twenty
.
.
.
10
11
.
.
13
.
14
.
17
.
.
.
....
There pass the careless people ....
my eyes,
fear ....
Look not
XIV.
for
in
XV.
XVI. It nods and curtseys and recovers
XVII. Twice a week the winter thorough
XVIII. Oh, when I was in love with you
XIX. The time you won your town the race
V
8
.
....
.
•
.
moonlit heath and lonesome bank
X. The Sun at noon to higher
XI.
now
1
18
19
20
21
23
.
.
24
.
.
24
...
25
.
26
COXTENTS
Page
enough are sky and plain
28
XXI. In summertime on Bredon
29
XXII. The street sounds to the soldiers' tread 32
No.
XX. Oh
fair
.
....
XXIII. The lads
XXIV.
XXV.
in their
hundreds
....
Say, lad, have you things to do
.
.
This time of year a twelvemonth past
XXVI. Along
the field as
we came by
.
.
XXVII. Is my team ploughing
XXVIII. High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam
XXIX 'T is spring come out to ramble
;
XXX
Others,
.
am
I
not the
XXXI. On Wenlock Edge
first
.
....
.
.
....
XXXIV. Oh, sick I am to see you
XXXV. On the idle hill of summer ....
XXXVI. White in the moon the long road Ues
XXXVII. As through the wild green hills of
Wyre
XL.
'T
is
Into
time,
my
37
38
40
43
44
47
48
49
51
52
53
out of the west land blow
55
by Wenlock town
56
I
think,
heart an air that
kills
.
.
...
...
XLI. In my own shire, if I was sad
XLII. Once in the wind of morning
XLI 1 1. When I meet the morning beam
XLIV. Shot?
36
45
XXXII. From far, from eve and morning
XXXIII. If truth in hearts that perish ...
XXXIX.
35
the wood's in
trouble
XXXVIII. The winds
33
.
so quick, so clean an ending
vi
57
58
60
.
64
.
67
CONTENTS
Page
No.
XLV.
If
it
chance your eye offend you
XLVI. Bring, in this timeless grave
XLVII. Here the hangman stops his
to
.
throw
cart
.
XLVIII. Be stiU, my soul, be still
XLIX. Think no more, lad laugh, be jolly
LI.
In valleys of springs of rivers
Loitering with a vacant eye
69
.
73
...
76
....
....
....
83
.
85
86
...
87
87
.
88
...
89
....
91
...
95
hoed and trenched and weeded
Vll
83
.
.
I
79
80
LVI. Far I hear the bugle blow
LVII. You smile upon your friend to-day
LVIII. When I came last to Ludlow
LIX. The star-filled seas are smooth to-night
LX. Now hollow fires burn out to black
LXI. The vane on Hughley steeple
LXIII.
78
.
.
this is stupid stuff
71
75
LI I. Far in a western brookland
LI 1 1. The lad came to the door at night
LIV. With rue my heart is laden
LV. Westward on the high-hilled plains
LXII. Terence,
69
.
;
L.
.
1887
From Clee
The
to
shires
heaven the beacon bums.
have seen
plain.
it
From north and south the
And
Look
beacons
left,
The
bum
sign returns
again.
look right, the
hills
are bright.
dales are light between.
Because
't is fifty
years to-night
That God has saved the Queen*
Now, when the flame they watch not towers
About the
Lads,
we
Who
I
'11
soil
they trod.
remember
friends of ours
shared the work with God.
I
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
To
skies that knit their heartstrings right,
To
The
It
fields that
saviours
bred them brave^
come not home to-night
Themselves they could not
save.
in Asia, tombstones
show
dawns
And Shropshire names are read
And the Nile spills his overflow
Beside the Severn's dead.
We
pledge in peace by farm and town
The Queen they served
And
fire
The
'
in war,
the beacons up and
land they perished
down
for.
God save the Queen we living sing,
From height to height 't is heard
'
;
And
with the rest your voices ring.
Lads of the
Fifty-third.
2
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Oh, God
will save her, fear
Be you the meji you
Get you the sons your
And God
you not
've been.
fathers got,
will save the
Queen.
II
Loveliest of trees, the cherry
Is
now
hung with bloom along the bough,
And
stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white
for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and
Twenty
And
will not
come
ten,
again.
take from seventy springs a score.
It only leaves
me
fifty
3
more.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
And
since to look at things in
bloom
Fifty springs are little room.
About the woodlands
To
see the cheiTy
I
vnW go
hung with snow.
9
III
THE RECRUIT
Leave your home behind,
lad.
And reach your friends your
And go, and luck go with you
While Ludlow tower
hand.
shall stand.
Oh, come you home of Sunday
When Ludlow
streets are
still
And Ludlow bells are calling
To farm and lane and mill,
4
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Or come you home of Monday
When Ludlow market hums
And Ludlow chimes
are playing
The conquering hero comes/
'
Come you home a hero,
Or come not home at
The
lads
Till
you leave
Ludlow tower
And you
will list
That blows
And make
Be
sorry
And you
On
will
mind you
shall
fall.
the bugle
in lands of
morn.
the foes of England
you were born.
till
trump of doomsday
lands of
And make
all.
mom may
lie.
the hearts of comrades
Be heavy where you
5
die.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Leave your home behind you.
Your
Oh, town and
by
field
and town
field will
mind you
friends
Ludlow tower
Till
is
:
down.
IV
REVEILLE
Wake the silver dusk retuminsr
Up the beach of darkness brims.
And the ship of sunrise burning
:
Strands upon the eastern rims.
Wake
:
the vaulted shadow shatters,
Trampled
And
to the floor
it
spanned.
the tent of night in tatters
Straws the sky-pavilioned land.
6
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Up,
ladj up,
't is
late for lying
:
Hear the dnims of morning play
Hark, the empty highways
'
Who '11
Towns and
beyond the
countries
crj'ing
away ?
hills
woo
;
*
together.
Forelands beacon, belfries
call
Never lad that trod on leather
Lived to feast
Up, lad
his heart "vvith
thews that
:
lie
all.
and cumber
Sunlit pallets never thrive
;
Morns abed and daylight slumber
Were not meant
Clay
lies still,
Breath
Up, lad
:
There
's
man
but blood
's
alive.
a rover
a ware that will not keep.
when
'11
for
the journey
's
over
be time enough to sleep.
?-
A SHROPSHIliE LAD
Oh
how
see
thick the goldeup flowers
Are lying
With dandelions
That
— 'T
'
to tell the hours
I squire
you round the meads
pick you posies gay
will
?
do no harm to take
You may, young man, you
Ah, spring was sent
'T
is
now
for lass
Before the world
What
But never
'T
is
flowers to-day
— Suppose
is
my
arm.
may.'
and
lad,
the blood runs gold.
And man and maid had
*
lane.
nev'er are told again.
Oh may
And
and
in field
as
I
true,
good
best be glad
old.
may flower to-morrow^
as
new.
wound my arm
young man,
8
right round
't is
true.'
—
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Some
lads there are^ 'tis
That only court to
And once they
'T
is little
My
'
is
enough they
true and
in
— Why,
How
all for
my
men
like
me
you.
't is
eyes then, can you doubt
a mile from town.
green the grass
We
might as well
— Ah,
Why
*
heart for
leave.
Perhaps, young man, perhaps.*
Oh, look
Be
thieve.
from trustless chaps.
safe
love
to say.
bear the bloom away
Then keep your
And
shame
life,
what
must true
is all
sit
is it
about
down.
but a flower
lovers sigh
kind, have pity,
I
my
own,
?
?
my
pretty,
Good-bye, young man, good-bye.*
?
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
VI
When
the lad for longing sighs,
Mute and
dull of cheer
and
If at death's
own door he
lies,
Maiden, you can heal
Lovers'
ills
The wan
are
all
to
his
buy
ail.
:
look, the hollow tone.
The hung head, the sunken
You can have them
Buy them, buy them
Lovers'
pale.
ills
Then you can
are
lie
But the lover
all
for
:
to
down
will
lO
eye.
your own.
eve and
sell.
forlorn
be well.
mom
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
VII
When smoke
stood up from
And mist blew
And blithe afield
off
Ludlow
from Teme,
to ploughing
Against the morning beam
I
strode beside
The blackbird
Looked out
my
team.
in the coppice
to see
And hearkened
me
as I whistled
The trampling team
And
'
fluted
Lie down,
What
Rise
stride,
beside.
and replied
lie
dowTi,
young yeoman
use to rise and rise
man
?
a thousand mornings
Yet down
at last
And then
the
he
man
II
lies.
is
wise/
;
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
heard the tune he sang me.
I
And
I
spied his yellow
bill
picked a stone and aimed
And threw
Then the
Then my
it
And
still
with a will :
bird was
soul within
Took up the
it
still.
me
blackbird's strain.
beside the horses
Along the dewy lane
It
'
sang the song again
Lie down^
lie
do>vn^
young yeoman
The sun moves always west
The road one treads to labour
Will lead one
And
home
to rest.
that will be the best.'
12
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
VIII
'
Farewell
to
bam and
stack and tree.
Farewell to Severn shore.
Terence, look your
For
I
last at
me.
come home no more.
'The sun bums on the half-mown
By now the blood is dried
And Maurice amongst the hay
And my knife is in his side.
hill.
;
'
My
mother thinks us long away
*Tis time the field were
She had two sons
To-night she
'
lies still
'11
;
mown.
at rising day.
be alone.
And here 's a bloody hand to shake.
And oh, man, here 's good-bye
;
We
'11
My
sweat no more on scythe and rake.
bloody hands and
13
I.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
'
I
wish you strength to bring you pride^
And a love to keep you clean,
And I wish you luck, come Lammastide,
At racing on the
'
Long
for
me
green.
the rick will wait.
And long will wait the fold.
And long vnW stand the empty
And dinner will be cold.'
plate.
IX
On
moonlit heath and lonesome bank
The sheep
And yon
beside
me
graze
;
the gallows used to clank
Fast by the four cross ways.
14
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
A careless shepherd
The
And
flocks
by moonlight there,
They hang
The
us
stood on
now
in
air.
Shrewsbury
trains all night groan
that die at
on the
:
Or wakes,
as
may
And naked
went
right,
that sleep outside.
to the
The morning
hangman's noose
clocks will ring
neck God made
Than
jail to-night,
betide,
A better lad, if things
Than most
rail
mom.
There sleeps in Shrewsbury
1
jail
whistles blow forlorn,
To men
A
^
high amongst the glimmering sheep
The dead man
And
once would keep
for other use
strangling in a string.
Hanging
in chains
was
moonlight.
IS
called keeping sheep
by
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
And sharp the link of Ufe will
And dead on air will stand
snap.
Heels that held up as straight a chap
As
treads
So here
To
And
As
'11
land.
watch the night and wait
see the morning shine.
When
And
I
upon the
he
"svill
hear the stroke of eight
not the stroke of nine
wish
my
lads' I
;
friend as sound a sleep
did not know,
That shepherded the moonlit sheep
A hundred years ago.
i6
A SHROPSHIRE
L.AD
X
MARCH
The Sun
at
noon to higher
Unharnessing the
That
air,
silver Pair
late before his chariot
swam.
Rides on the gold wool of the Ram.
So braver notes the storm-cock sings
To
start
And
the rusted wheel of things,
brutes in field and brutes in pen
Leap that the world goes round
The boys
To
are
up the woods with day
fetch the daffodils away,
And home
at
noonday from the
They bring no dearth
2
again.
ly
hills
of daffodils.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Afield for palms the girls repair^
And sure enough the palms are there.
And each will find by hedge or pond
Her waving silver-tufted wand.
In faiTQ and
field
through
The eye beholds the
Ah,
let
all
the shire
heart's desire
not only mine be vain.
For lovers should be loved again.
XI
On
your midnight pallet lying.
Listen,
and undo the door
Lads that waste the light
in sighing
In the dark should sigh no more
Night should ease a
Therefore, since
Pity
me
I
lover's sorrow
go to-morrow,
before.
i8
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
In the land to which
The
Once,
far dwelling, let
me
here the couch
if
In a kinder bed
And
I travel.
is
say
—
gravel.
I lay.
the breast the darnel smothers
Rested once upon another's
When
it
was not
clay.
XII
When
And
I
watch the
li\dng meet.
the movin/r pageant
Warm and
Where
I
file
breathing through the street
lodge a
little
If the heats of hate
and
while.
lust
In the house of flesh are strong,
me mind the house of dust
Where my sojourn shall be long.
Let
19
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
In the nation that
is
not
Nothing stands that stood before
There revenges are
And
;
forgot,
the hater hates no more
;
Lovers lying two and two
Ask not whom they
And
the bridegroom
Never turns him
sleep beside.
all
night through
to the bride.
XIII
When
I
'
I
was one-and-twenty
heard a wise
man
say,
Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away
20
;
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy
But
I
was one-and-twenty,
No
use to talk to me.
"WTien I
I
^
heart out of the
Was
is
was one-and-twenty
heard hira say again,
The
'T
free.'
bosom
never given in vain
;
paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.'
And I am two-and-twenty.
And oh, 't is true, 't is true.
XIV
There
That
pass the careless people
call their souls their
Here by the road
How
idle
and
I loiter,
alone.
21
own
:
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Ah, past the plunge of plummet.
In seas
My
I
cannot sound.
heart and soul and senses.
World without end, are drowned.
His
folly
has not fellow
Beneath the blue of day
That gives to man or woman
His heart and soul away.
There flowers no balm to sain him
From
That 's
The
east of earth to west
lost for everlasting
heart out of his breast.
Here by the labouring highway
With empty hands
Sea-deep,
Lie
lost
till
my
I stroll
doomsday morning,
heart and souL
2Z
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XV
Look not
in ray eyesj for fear
They mirror
true the sight
I
see,
And there you find your face too clear
And love it and be lost like me.
One the long nights through must lie
Spent in star-defeated
But why should you
Perish
A
?
One
that
Looked
as well as I
gaze not in
Grecian lad, as
many
I
sighs.
my
hear
eyes.
tell.
loved in vain,
into a forest well
And never looked away again.
There, when the turf in springtime
With downward eye and gazes
sad,
Stands amid the glancing showers
A jonquil,
not a Grecian
23
lad.
flowers.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XVI
It nods and curtseys and recovers
When
The
the wind blows above.
nettle
on the graves of lovers
That hanged themselves
The
^
nettle nods, the
for love.
wind blows
over,
The man, he does not move.
The
lover of the grave, the lover
That hanged hunself
for love.
XVII
Twice a week the winter thorough
Here stood
I
to
keep the goal
Football then was fighting soitow
For the young man's
24
soul.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Now
in
Out
I
Maytime
to the wicket
march with bat and pad
:
See the son of grief at cricket
Trying to be glad.
Try
I will
no harm in trying
;
Wonder
't is
how
little
mirth
Keeps the bones of man from lying
On
the bed of earth.
XVIII
Oh, when
Then
And
I
I
was
in love with you.
was clean and brave.
miles around the wonder grew
How well
did I behave.
25
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
And now the fancy passes by.
And nothing ^vill remain.
And miles around they '11 say that
I
Am quite myself again.
XIX
TO AN ATHLETE DYING YOUNG
The time you won your town
We
the race
chaired you through the market-place
Man and boy stood cheering by.
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
To-dav, the road
Shoulder-high
And
set
all
we
runners come,
bring you home.
you at your threshold down.
Townsman
of a
stiller
26
town.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Smart
From
And
lad, to slip
fields
early
betimes aAvay
where glory does not
stay.
though the laurel grows
It withers quicker
than the rose.
Eyes the shady night has shut
Ginnot see the record
And
silence sounds
cut.
no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears
Now
you
Of lads
will
not swell the rout
that wore their honours out,
Runners
whom renown
And
name died
So
the
set,
before
its
outran
before the man.
echoes fade.
The
fleet foot
And
hold to the low lintel up
The
still-defended challej^e-cup.
on the
sill
37
of shade.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
And round
that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead.
And
unwithered on
find
The garland
its curls
briefer than a girl's.
?•
XX
Oh
fair
But
enough are sky and
know
I
fairer far
Those are
as beautiful again
That
water are
The
pools and rivers
The
The
in the
trees
like
plain,
;
wash
so clean
and clouds and
air,
on earth was never seen.
And oh
that
I
were there.
28
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
These are the thoughts
As
I
I
often think
down
stand gazing
In act upon the cressy brink
To
But
A
and dive and drown
strip
;
in the golden-sanded brooks
And
azure meres
silly
lad that longs
And
wishes he were
I
spy
and looks
I.
XXI
BREDONi HILL
In summertime on Bredon
The
bells
they sound so clear
Round both the
shires
they ring them
In steeples far and near,
A happy
1
noise to hear.
Pronounced Breedon.
29
;
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Here of a Sunday morning
My
love and
I
would
And see the coloured
And hear the larks
About us
The
bells
lie.
counties.
so high
in the sky.
would ring to
call
her
In valleys miles away
'
Come
all
Good
to church,
people,
But here
my
good people
come and
love
would
pray.*
stay.
And I would turn and answer
Among the springing thyme,
'
Oh, peal upon our wedding.
And we will hear the chime.
And come to church in time.'
30
;
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
But when the snows
On Bredon
My
love rose
at Christmas
top were strown.
up
so early
And stole out unbeknown
And went to church alone.
They tolled the one bell only.
Groom there was none to see.
The mourners followed after.
And so to church went she.
And would not wait for me.
The bells they sound on Bredon,
And
' Come
still
all
to church,
Oh, noisy
I
the steeples hum.
bells,
hear you,
be dumb
I will
31
good people,'
come.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXII
The
street sounds to the soldiers' tread,
And
A
out
we
troop to see
:
single redcoat turns his head.
He
turns and looks at me.
My man, from sky to sky 's
We never crossed before
so far.
Such leagues apart the world's ends
We 're
like to
What thoughts
We
meet no more
at heart
cannot stop to
But dead or
Soldier,
I
living,
;
have you and
tell
drunk or dry.
wish you well.
33
are.
I
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXIII
The
lads in their hundreds to
Ludlow come
in
for the fair.
There
's
men from
and the
The
mill
the
bam and
and the
lads for the girls
the forge
fold.
and the lads
for
the
liquor are there.
And
there with the rest are the lads that
will
There
's
never be
old.
chaps from the town and the
the
till
and the
And few
the stalwart, and
of
face
and the
heart.
that will carry their looks or their
truth to the grave.
3
and
cart.
And many to count are
many the brave.
And many the handsome
handsome of
field
33
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
I
wish one could know them,
were tokens to
The
fortunate
I
wish there
tell
fellows
now you can
that
never discern
And then one
could talk with
them
friendly
and wish them farewell
And watch them
depart on the
way
that
they will not return.
But now you may
stare as
you
like
and there 's
nothing to scan
And
brushing your elbow unguessed-at and
not to be told
They
carry
back
bright to the coiner
the
mintage of man.
The
lads
that will die in their glory and
never be
old.
34
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXIV
Say, lad, have you things to do
Quick then, while your day
Quick, and
Here am
if 't is
I,
work
man
Send me now, and
Call
me,
Use me
I shall
Where
a
's
I shall
man 's no
Ere the wholesome
me
your time.
go
hear you
ere they lay
at prime.
for two.
now
:
's
?
;
call
low
use at
all
flesh decay.
And the willing nerve be numb.
And the lips lack breath to say,
' No, my lad, I cannot come/
35
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXV
This time of year a twelvemonth past.
When
Fred and
would meet.
I
We needs must jangle, till at last
We fought and I was beat.
So then the summer
Till rainy
fields
about.
days began.
Rose Harland on her Sundays out
Walked with the
The
better
ITiough
A lad
Is
better man.
man she walks with still,
now 't is not with Fred
that hves and has his wdll
worth a dozen dead.
Fred keeps the house
And
When
clay
's
all
kinds of weather.
the house he keeps
Rose and
Stock-still lies
I w^alk
out together
Fred and
36
;
sleeps.
A SHllOPSHIRE LAD
XXVI
Along the
field as
we came by
A year ago, my
love and
The aspen over
stile
Was
'
and stone
talking to itself alone.
Oh, who are these that
A country
Two
And
I,
lover and his lass
lovers looking to
and pass
kiss
;
be wed
;
time shall put them both to bed.
But she
shall lie
And he
beside another love.'
And
with earth above.
sure enough beneath the tree
There walks another love with me.
And
Its
overhead the aspen heaves
rainy-sounding silver leaves
And
I
spell
nothing in their
;
stir.
But now perhaps they speak to her,
37
?
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
And
They
plain for her to understand
talk about a time at
hand
When I shall sleep with clover
And she beside another lad.
clad.
XXVII
"
Is
my team
That
And
I
ploughing.
was used to drive
hear the harness jingle
When
I
was man
alive
?
Ay, the horses trample.
The
harness jingles
now
No change though you
The land you used
38
lie
;
under
to plough.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
playing
Is football
'
Along the
river shore.
lads to chase the leather,
With
Now
Ay, the
The
stand up no more
I
ball
'
?
flying.
is
lads play heart
and
soul
goal stands up, the keeper
The
Stands up to keep the goal.
*
Is
my
That
And
happy.
girl
I
thought hard to leave,
has she tired of weeping
As she
Ay, she
She
Your
Be
lies
down
at eve
?
down lightly.
not down to weep
lies
lies
girl is well
still,
my
contented.
lad,
39
and
sleep.
:
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
'
my
Now
Is
And
A
friend hearty.
I
am
thin and pine.
has he found to sleep in
better bed than mine
Yes, lad, I
lie
I lie as lads
I
?
easy,
would choose
;
cheer a dead man's sweetheart.
Never ask
me
whose.
XXVIII
THE WELSH MARCHES
High the vanes
of Shrewsbury gleam
Islanded in Severn stream
The
;
bridges from the steepled crest
Cross the water east and west.
40
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
The
flag
of
morn
in conqueror's state
Enters at the English gate
The vanquished
:
eve, as night prevails,
Bleeds upon the road to Wales.
Ages
since the vanquished bled
Round my mother's man'iage-bed
There the ravens feasted
far
About the open house of war
When
Severn down to Buildwas ran
Coloured with the death of man.
Couched upon her brother's grave
The Saxon got me on the
The sound
of fight
is
slave.
silent
long
That began the ancient wrong
Long the
voice of tears
is still
That wept of old the endless
41
ill.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
In
my
heart
The war
They
On
it
has not died.
that sleeps on Severn side
;
cease not fighting, east and west.
the marches of
Here the
my
breast.
truceless armies yet
Trample, rolled in blood and sweat
They
And
kill
I
None
and
and never die
kill
think that each
will part us,
The knot
that
is I.
none undo
makes one
flesh of
two.
Sick with hatred, sick with pain.
Strangling
WTien
— When
shall I
shall w^e
be
slain ?
be dead and rid
Of the wrong my father did ?
How long, how long, till spade and
Put to sleep
my
mother's curse
42
?
hearse
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXIX
THE LENT LILY
'T
IS
spring
The
come out
;
to ramble
brakes around.
hilly
For under thorn and bramble
About the hollow ground
The
And
primroses are found.
there
With
And
all
there
's
the windflower chilly
the winds at play.
's
the Lenten
lily
That has not long to stay
And
And
since
You
And
dies
on Easter day.
till girls
go maying
find the primrose
still.
find the windflower playing
With every wind
But not the
at will.
daffodil,
43
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Bring baskets now^ and
sally
Upon the spring's array,
And bear from hill and valley
The
daffodil
That
dies
away
on Easter day.
XXX
Others^
Have
I
am
not the
first.
more mischief than they durst
willed
If in the breathless night I too
Shiver now,
More than
Have
't is
I, if
nothing new.
truth were told,
stood and sweated hot and cold.
And through
their reins in ice
Fear contended with
desire.
44
and
fire
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Agued once
But
I like
like
them
me
were they,
shall
win
my way
Lastly to the bed of mould
Where
there
my
But from
's
neither heat nor cold.
grave across
my brow
Plays no wind of healing now,
And
fire
and
ice within
me
fight
Beneath the suffocating night.
XXXI
On Wenlock Edge
the
wood 's
in trouble
Wrekin heaves
His
forest fleece the
The
gale,
And
thick on Severn snow the leaves.
it
;
plies the saplings double,
45
;
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
*T would blow like this through holt and hanger
When
Uricon the city stood
:
*Tis the old wind in the old anger,
But then
it
threshed another wood.
was before
my
time, the
At yonder heaving
hill
would
Then,
't
The blood
that
The thoughts
Roman
stare
warms an English yeoman.
that hurt him, they were there.
There, like the wind through woods in
Through him the gale of
The
life
blew high
man was never quiet
Then 't was the Roman, now 't is
The
tree of
gale,
it
I.
plies the saplings double.
It blows so hard,
't
will
To-day the Roman and
soon be gone
his trouble
Are ashes under Uricon.
46
:
riot.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXXII
From
far,
from eve and morning
And yon
The
twelve-winded sky,
me
am I.
stuff of life to knit
Blew hither
Now — for
Nor yet
:
here
a breath
I
tarry
disperse apart
—
Take my hand quick and
What have you
Speak now, and
How
shall
I
tell
me,
in your heart.
I will
answer
help you, say
Ere to the wind's twelve quarters
1
take
my
endless way.
47
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXXIII
If truth in hearts that perish
Could move the powers on high,
I
think the love
I
bear you
Should make you not to
Sure, sure,
If single
if stedfast
die.
meaning,
thought could save.
The world might end to-morrow.
You should not
see the grave.
This long and sure-set liking.
This boundless will to please,
— Oh, you should
If there
were help
But now, since
To
live for
ever
in these.
all is idle.
this lost heart
be kind.
Ere to a town you journey
Where
friends are
48
ill
to find.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXXIV
THE NEW MISTRESS
'
Oe,
I am
sick
me
You may
to
see you, will
you never
let
be ?
good for something but you are not
be
good for me.
Oh, go where you are wanted, for you are not
wanted
And
that was
from
'
here.
I will
all
my
when
the farewell
I
parted
dear.
go where
I
am
wanted, to a lady
bom
and bred,
Who
will
me
dress
uniform of red
She
will not
it
I will
free
nothing in a
;
be sick to see
me
if I
only keep
clean
go where
I
am wanted
the Queen.
4
for
49
for a soldier of
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
'
I will
go where
I
am
wanted^ for the sergeant
does not mind
He may
me
be sick to see
but he treats
me
very kind
He
me beer and
for my cap,
gives
And
knew
never
I
money on
'
I will
go where
room
And
the
for
men
there
a sweetheart spend her
a chap.
I
am
wanted, where there
to
none too many
for the
work
do
Where the standing
line
the dropping dead
And
's
one or two.
are
is
breakfast and a ribbon
wears thinner and
lie
thick
;
the enemies of England they shall see
me and
be
sick.*
SO
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXXV
On
the idle
hill
of summer,
Sleepy with the flow of streams.
Far
I
hear the steady
Drumming
drummer
like a noise in dreams.
Far and near and low and louder
On
Dear
the roads of earth go by,
to friends
and food
for
powder.
Soldiers marching, all to die.
East and west on
fields
forgotten
Bleach the bones of comrades
Lovely lads and dead and rotten
None
Far the
;
that go return again.
calling bugles hollo.
High the screaming
Gay the
slain.
files
Woman
fife replies.
of scarlet follow
bore me,
SI
I
will rise.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXXVI
White
The moon
White
moon the long
in the
stands blank above
in the
That leads
Still
moon
me
lies.
;
the long road
from
my
lies
love.
hangs the hedge without a gust,
Stillj still
My
road
feet
the shadoAvs stay:
upon the moonlit dust
Pursue the ceaseless way.
The world
And
Trudge
is
round, so travellers
straight
though reach the track.
on^ trudge on,
The way
But ere the
Far, far
will
WTiite in the
That leads
't
will all
be wellj
guide one back.
homeward
circle
must
tell,
it
remove
moon
me
hies
:
the long road
from
52
my
love.
lies
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXXVII
As through the
wild green hills of
The
train ran,
And
Low
far behind, a fading crest.
changing sky and
hand
lay
knee
it
That morning half a
So many an honest
Had
Hand,
From
said
since
I,
fields
lay
shire
:
away
fellow's
wellnigh wrung
Clee,
my knee.
empty on
my
Aching on
shire.
west
in the forsaken
Sank the high-reared head of
My
Wyre
it
fist
from the
now we
wrist.
part
and men we know by heart.
For strangers*
faces, strangers' lands,
—
Hand, you have held true
fellows' hands.
Be
you do
A
clean then
thing they
You and
I
;
'd
rot before
not believe of you.
must keep from shame
In London streets the Shropshire
53
name
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
On
banks of Thames they must not say
men than they
Severn breeds worse
And
friends abroad
home they
Friends at
Oh,
I
When
shall
I
be
stiff
bea.r in
mind
leave behind.
and cold
forget you, hearts of gold
The land where
Is
must
I shall
the land where
;
;
mind you not
all 's forgot.
And if my foot returns no more
To Teme nor Corve nor Severn shore.
Luck,
By
my
lads,
falling
be with you
still
stream and standing
hill.
By chiming tower and whispering
Men that made a man of me.
About your work
in
tree,
town and farm
my
head from harm.
Still
you
'11
keep
Still
you
'11
help me, hands that gave
A grasp to
friend
me
54
to the grave.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XXXVIII
The winds
out of the west land blow,
My friends have breathed them there
Warm with the blood of lads I know
Comes
It
east the sighing
fanned their temples,
air.
filled their lungs,
Scattered their forelocks free
My
fi'iends
made words
of
it
;
with tongues
That talk no more to me.
Their voices, dying as they
fly.
Thick on the wind are sown
The names
My
of
fellows'
men blow
and
Oh lads, at home
1
my
soundless by,
own.
heard you plain.
But here your speech
is still.
And down the sighing wind
You hollo from the hill.
5S
in vain
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
The wind and
But neither
Now
!_,
we both were
lonff
abode
there.
;
through the friendless world we fare
And
sigh
upon the
road.
XXXIX
'T
18
time, I think,
by Wenlock town
The golden broom should blow
The hawthorn sprinkled up and down
;
Should charge the land with snow.
Spring will not wait the
Who
loiterer's
keeps so long away
time
;
So others wear the broom and climb
The hedgerows heaped with may.
56
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Oh
tarnish late
Gold that
I
on Wenlock Edge,
never see
;
Lie long, high snowdrifts in the hedge
That
will not
shower on me.
XL
Into
my
heart an air that
From yon
far
kills
country blows
What are those blue remembered hills.
What spires, what farms are those ?
That
I
is
see
the land of lost content,
it
shining plain.
The happy highways where
And
cannot come again.
57
I
went
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLI
In
my own
Homely
The
shire, if I
comforters
earth, because
Sorrowed
And
I
was
had
my
sad,
:
heart was sore,
for the son she bore
standing
hills,
;
long to remain.
Shared their short-lived comrade's pain.
And bound
On
for the
every road
I
Trod beside me,
The
beautiful
Whether
I
same bourn
wandered
close
and
as
by,
dear.
and death-struck year
in the
woodland brown
heard the beechnut rustle down.
And saw
the purple crocus pale
Flower about the autumn dale
Or
littering far the fields of
Lady-smocks
I,
;
May
a-bl caching lay.
And
like a skylit
The
bluebells in the azured wood.
water stood
58
:
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Yonder, lightening other loads,
The
seasons range the country roads,
But here
in
London
streets
I
ken
No such helpmates, only men
And these are not in plight to
bear.
If they would, another's care.
They have enough
In
many an eye
The mortal
as
't is
sickness of a
to be kind.
Undone with
miseiy,
all
Is to
hate their fellow
And
till
at
see
that measures
Too unhappy
Look
I
:
me
mind
they can
man
;
they drop they needs must
you and wish you
59
ill.
still
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLII
THE MERRY GUIDE
Once
I
in the
wind of morning
ranged the thymy wold
The world-wide
And
all
air
;
was azure
the brooks ran gold.
There through the dews beside
Behold a youth that
me
trod.
With feathered cap on forehead.
And
poised a golden rod.
With mien
to
match the morning
And gay delightful guise
And friendly brows and laughter
He looked me in the eyes.
60
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Oh whence, I asked, and whither ?
He smiled and would not say.
And looked at me and beckoned
And laughed and
led the way.
And with kind looks and laughter
And nought to say beside
We
I
two went on together,
and
my happy
guide.
Across the glittering pastures
And empty upland still
And solitude of shepherds
High
in the folded hill.
By hanging woods and hamlets
That gaze through orchards down
On many a windmill turning
And far-discovered town,
6i
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
With gay regards of promise
And sure unslackened stride
And smiles and nothing spoken
Led on my merry
By blowing realms
guide.
of woodland
With sunstruck vanes
And
afield
cloud-led shadows sailing
About the windv weald,
By
valley-guarded granges
And
silver
waters wide,
Content at heart
With
And
my
I
followed
delightful guide.
like the cloudy
shadows
Across the country blown
We two
fare
on
for ever.
But not we two
62
alone.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
With the great gale we journey
That breathes from gardens thinned,
Borne in the
Whose
drift of
blossoms
petals throng the
wind
;
Buoyed on the neaven-heard whisper
Of dancing
From
all
leaflets
whirled
the woods that autumn
Bereaves in
all
the world.
And midst the fluttering
Of all that ever died
I follow,
legion
and before us
Goes the delightful guide.
With
lips that
brim with laughter
But never once respond.
And feet that fly on feathers.
And serpent-circled wand.
9
63
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLIII
THE IMMORTAL PART
When
Or
I
lay
hear
meet the morning beam.
I
me down
my bones
at night to
within
dream,
me say,
'
Another night, another day.
'
When
shall this slough of sense
This dust of thoughts be laid at
The man
And
'
the
be
cast.
last.
of flesh and soul be slain
man
of bone remain
?
This tongue that talks, these lungs that shout.
These thews that hustle us about.
This brain that
And
its
fills
humming
the skull with schemes,
hive of dreams,
64
—
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
These to-day are proud in power
And
lord
in their httle
it
hour
The immortal bones obey
Of dying
T
'
is
flesh
long
till
and dying
control
soul.
eve and morn are gone
:
Slow the endless night comes on.
And
That
late to fulness
grows the birth
long as earth.
shall last as
Wanderers eastward, wanderers west,
'
Know you why you
'T
is
cannot rest
?
that every mother's son
Travails with a skeleton.
'
Lie
down
Bear the
in the
bed of dust
fruit that
bear you must
Bring the eternal seed to
And morn
S
is all
light.
the same as night.
65
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
'
Rest you so from trouble sore.
Fear the heat
o'
the sun no more,
Nor the snowing winter
Now
'
you labour not with
Empty
We
wild,
gamient
vessel,
child.
cast.
that wore you long shall
last.
— Another night, another day.'
So
my
me
bones wuthin
Therefore they shall do
To-day while
And
flesh
I
and
am
soul,
say.
my
master
will
still,
now both
are strong,
Shall hale the sullen slaves along,
Before this
fire
of sense decay,
This smoke of thought blow clean away,
And
leave with ancient night alone
The
stedfast
and enduring bone.
66
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLIV
Shot ?
Oh
so quick, so clean an ending
that was right, lad, that was brave
Yours was not an
ill
for
'T was best to take
Oh
?
it
mending,
to the grave.
you had forethought, you could reason,
And saw your road and where it led,
And early wise and brave in season
Put the
Oh
soon,
pistol to
your head.
and better so than
later
After long disgrace and scorn.
You
shot dead the household traitor.
The
soul that should not have
67
been bom.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Right you guessed the rising morrow
And
Dust
's
scorned to tread the mire you must
your wages^ son of sorrow.
But men may come
to worse than dust.
Souls undone, undoing others,
Long time
since the tale began.
You would not
Oh
Now
lad,
—
live to
you died
as
wrong your brothers
fits
a man.
to your grave shall friend
and stranger
With ruth and some with envy come
:
Undishonoured, clear of danger.
Clean of
Turn
guilt, pass
safe to rest,
hence and home.
no dreams, no waking
And here, man, here 's the -vn-eath I
'T
is
not a
gift that
But wear
it
and
's
it
've
w^orth the taking.
will not fade.
68
made
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLV
If
it
chance your eye offend you,
Pluck
it
out, lad,
and be sound
:
'T will hurt, but here are salves to friend you.
And many
And
if
Cut
a balsam grows on ground.
your hand or foot offend you,
it off,
lad,
and be whole
But play the man, stand up and end you.
When
your sickness
is
your
soul.
XLVI
Bring, in this timeless grave to throw.
No
cypress,
sombre on the snow
Snap not from the
His leaves that
bitter
live
yew
December through
Break no rosemary, bright with rime
And
sparkling to the cruel clime
69
;
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Nor plod the winter land
to look
For willows in the icy brook
round him
To
cast
No
spray that ever buds in spring.
But
Awns
Or
A
them
if
leafless
the Christmas
the
last
shrivelled flax,
if
brine
has kept
gleaner overstept,
whose flower
single season, never
Or
field
:
is
blue
two
one haulm whose year
is
o'er
Shivers on the upland frore,
— Oh, bring from
Whatever
To
give
hill
and stream and plam
will not flower again,
him comfort
:
he and those
Shall bide eternal bedfellows
Where low upon the couch he
Whence he never
shall arise.
70
lies
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLVII
THE CARPENTER'S SON
'
Here
Now
the
hangman
the best of friends must part.
Fare you well, for
Live, lads,
Oh,
f
at
and
Had
'
fare I
ill
:
will die.
I
home had
'Prenticed to
I
stops his cart
my
I
but stayed
father's trade.
stuck to plane and adze,
I
had not been
Then
I
lost,
my
lads.
might have built perhaps
Gallows-trees for other chaps.
Never dangled on
Had
I
but
left
ill
my
own.
alone.
71
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
*
Now, you
And
see,
they hang
'
'tis
come from
Here hang
Two
I,
fists
ill
and curse
to worse.
and right and
's
the luck
we
Though the midmost hangs
Comrades
all,
my
prove.
for love.
in other
ways
;
neck and save your own
Comrades
'
left
that stand and gaze,
Walk henceforth
See
;
poor fellows hang for theft
All the same
'
high.
the people passing by
Stop to shake their
So
me
all,
leave
Make some day
ill
alone.
a decent end,
Shrewder fellows than your
Fare you well, for
Live, lads,
and
:
ill
fare
I will die.'
72
I
friend.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLVIII
Be
ray soul^ be
stillj
still
;
the arms you bear
are brittle.
Earth and high heaven are
fixt
of old and
founded strong.
Think
rather,
—
grieve a
call
to thought, if
now you
O
soul, for
little.
The days when we had
rest,
they were long.
Men
loved unkindness then, but lightless in
the quarry
I
slept
and saw not
tears fell
;
down,
I
did
not mourn
Sweat ran and blood sprang out and
never sorry
Then
it
I
was
:
was well with me, in days ere
bom.
73
I
was
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Now, and
muse
I
for
why and never
find the
reason,
I
pace the earth, and drink the
air,
and
feel
the sun.
Be
be
still,
my
still,
season
soul
;
is
it
but for a
:
Let us endure an hour and see
injustice
done.
Ay, look
:
high heaven and earth
prime foundation
ail
from the
;
All thoughts to rive the heart are here,
all
are vain
:
Horror and scorn
indignation
Oh why
did
again
I
and
and hate
and
fear
and
—
awake
?
74
?
when
shall I sleep
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
XLIX
Think no more,
Why
should
lad
;
laugh, be jolly
men make
haste to die
Empty heads and tongues a-talking
Make the rough road easy walking,
A.nd the feather pate of folly
Bears the falling sky.
Oh,
'tis jesting,
dancing, drinking
Spins the heavy world around.
If
young hearts were not
Oh, they would be young
Think no more
;
't is
75
so clever.
for ever
only thinking
Lays lads underground.
:
?
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Clunton and Clunbury,
Clungunford and Clun,
Are
the quietest places
Under
the sun.
In valleys of springs of rivers,
By Ony and Teme and
The country
The
We
Clun,
for easy livers,
quietest under the sun.
still
had sorrows to lighten,
One could not be always glad.
And lads knew trouble at Knighton
When
By
I
was a Knighton
bridges that
lad.
Thames runs under.
In London, the town built
'T
is
sure small matter for
If sorrow
is
with one
76
ill,
wonder
still.
A SHROPSHlllE LAD
And
if as
The
He
a lad grows older
troubles he bears are more.
carries his griefs
on a shoulder
That handselled them long
Where
shall
before.
one halt to deliver
This luggage
I 'd lief
Not Thames, not Teme
set
is
down ?
the
river,
Nor London nor Knighton the town
'T
is
a long
way
:
further than Knighton,
A quieter place than
Clun,
Where doomsday may thunder and lighten
And
little 't ^vill
matter to one.
*•
77
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
LI
Loitering with a vacant eye
Along the Grecian
And
I
brooding on
met a
Still in
And
'
gallery,
my
heavy
statue standing
ill,
still.
marble stone stood he.
stedfastly
Well met,'
I
he looked at me.
thought the look would say,
We both were fashioned far away
We neither knew, when we were young.
'
These Londoners we
Still
An
'
live
he stood and eyed
among.'
me
hard,
earnest and a grave regard
What,
lad,
:
drooping with your
am
I
too would be
I
too sui-vey that endless line
where
I
Of men whose thoughts
lot
not.
are not as mine.
Years, ere you stood up from rest.
On my
neck the
collar prest
78
}
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Years when you lay down your
I
shall stand
and bear
Courage, lad,
't is
ill,
it still.
not for long
;
Stand, quit you like stone, be strong.'
So
I
And
And
thought
light
I
on
his look
would say
me my
trouble lay.
;
stept out in flesh and bone
Manful
like the
man
of stone.
LII
Far
in a western brookland
me
That bred
The
long ago
poplars stand and tremble
By
pools
I
used to know.
There, in the windless night-time,
The wanderer, marvelling why,
Halts on the bridge to hearken
How
soft
the poplars sigh.
79
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
He
hears
long since forgotten
:
In fields where
Here
I lie
And
down
in
was known,
London
turn to rest alone.
There, by the
starlit fences.
The wanderer
My
I
halts
and hears
soul that lingers sighing
About the glimmering
weirs.
LIII
THE TRUE LOVER
The
lad
came
to the door at night,
When lovers crown their vows.
And whistled soft and out of sight
In shadow of the boughs.
80
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Henceforth,
So take
me
my
When
I
I shall
And you
I
face
aye
love, for
;
arms a space
in your
Before the east
'
my
not vex you with
I shall
'
is
grey.
from hence away
am
past
not find a bride.
shall
be the
first
and
last
eier lay beside.'
She heard and went and knew not why
Her
heart to his she laid
Light was the
air
beneath the sky
But dark under the shade.
*
Oh
do you breathe,
Seems not
And
to rise
here upon
lad, that
and
fall.
my bosom
There beats no heart at
6
8i
your breast
prest
*
all ?
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
'
Oh
my
loud^
girl, it
You should have
But since
It
'
Oh
for
you
I
once would knock,
felt it
then
stopped the clock
never goes again.'
lad,
what
is it,
lad, that diips
Wet from your neck on mine
What is it falling on my lips,
My lad,
'
Oh
like
that tastes of brine
enough
't is
blood,
For when the knife has
The
?
?
my
dear.
slit
throat across from ear to ear
*T will bleed because of
Under the
stars the air
it.*
was
light
But dark below the boughs.
The
still air
When
of the speechless night.
lovers
crown their vows.
S3
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
LIV
With
rue
my
heart
For golden friends
For many a
rose-lipt
And many
laden
is
I
had.
maiden
a lightfoot lad.
By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid
;
The
rose-lipt girls are sleeping
In
fields
where
roses fade.
LV
Westward on the
Where
Still, I
for
me
think, in
high-hilled plains
the world began.
newer veins
Frets the changeless
33
bbod
of man.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Now
that other lads than
I
Strip to bathe on Severn shore,
They, no help,
for all
Tread the mill
There,
And
when
I
they
try.
trod before.
hueless
is
the west
the darkness hushes wide.
Where the
lad lies
down
to rest
Stands the troubled dream beside.
There, on thoughts that once were mine.
Day
And
looks dovvn the eastern steep,
the youth at morning shine
Makes the vow he
84
will not keep.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
LVI
THE DAY OF BATTLE
Far
'
To
hear the bugle blow
I
call
And
me where
would not go.
the guns begin the song,
« Soldier,
'
I
fly
Comrade,
if
or stay for long."
to turn
and
fly
Made
a soldier never die.
Fly
would, for
I
who would not ?
shot.
'T is sure no pleasure to be
*But since the
man
that runs
away
Lives to die another day.
And
cowards' funerals,
Are not wept
when they come,
so well at
85
home,
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
'
Therefore, though the best
Stand and do the
Stand and
And
my
best,
lad
and see your
fight
bad,
is
;
slain.
take the bullet in your brain,*
LVII
You
smile upon your friend to-day,
To-day
his
You hearken
And happy
'T
is
ills
are over
;
to the lover's say,
is
the lover.
late to hearken, late to smile.
But better
I shall
late than
have lived a
Before
I
never
little
die for ever.
86
:
while
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
LVIII
When
I
came
last to
Ludlow
Amidst the moonlight
pale.
Two friends kept step beside me.
Two honest lads and hale.
Now
Dick
lies
long in the churchyard
And Ned lies long in jail.
And I come home to Ludlow
Amidst the moonlight
pale.
LIX
THE
The
ISLE OF
star-filled seas are
From France
to
PORTLAND
smooth to-night
England strown
;
Black towers above the Portland light
The
felon-quarried stone.
87
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
On
yonder
island^ not to rise.
Never to
stir forth free.
Far from his folk a dead lad
lies
That once was friends with me.
Lie you easy, dream you light.
And sleep you fast
And luckier may you
for
aye
find the night
Than ever you found the
day.
9
LX
Now
hollow
And
fires
burn out to black,
lights are guttering
Square your shoulders,
And
lift
low
:
your pack.
leave your friends and go.
8S
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Oh
never
fear,
Look not
In
all
man, nought
left
's
to dread,
nor right
the endless road you tread
There
's
nothing but the night.
LXI
HUGH LEY STEEPLE
The vane on Hughley
steeple
Veers bright, a far-known sign.
And there lie Hughley people.
And there lie friends of mine.
Tall in their midst the tower
Divides the shade and sun.
And the clock strikes the hour
And tells the time to none.
89
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
To
south the headstones cluster.
The sunny mounds he
The dead
are
more
in
thick
muster
At Hughley than the
quick.
North, for a soon-told number,
Chill graves the sexton delves,
And
steeple-shadowed slumber
The
To
slayers of themselves.
north, to south,
lie
parted.
With Hughley tower above.
The
kind, the single-hearted.
The
lads I used to love.
And, south or north,
A choice
And
I shall
't is
only
of friends one knows.
ne'er be lonely
Asleep with these or those.
90
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
LXII
'
Terence,
You
this is stupid stuff
eat your victuals fast
enough
There can't be much amiss,
To
't is
clear.
see the rate you drink your beer.
But oh, good Lord, the verse you make.
It gives
a chap the belly-ache.
The cow, the
old cow, she
is
dead
It sleeps well,
the horned head
We
't is
To
poor lads,
our turn
;
now
hear such tunes as killed the cow.
Pretty friendship
Your
't is
to
rhyme
friends to death before their time
Moping melancholy mad
Come, pipe a tune to dance
Why,
There
's
if 't is
to, lad.*
dancing you would be.
brisker pipes than poetry.
Say, for what were hop-yards meant.
Or why was Burton
91
built
on Trent
?
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
Oh many
a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt
To justify
does more than Milton can
God's ways to man.
Ale, man, ale
For fellows
Look
To
's
the stuff to drink
whom
hurts to think:
it
into the pewter pot
see the world as the world
And
faith,
't is
The mischief
is
pleasant
that
't
not.
's
till 't is
past
will not last.
Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
And left mv necktie God knows where.
And carried half way home, or near,
Pints and quarts of
Ludlow beer
Then the world seemed none
And I myself a sterling lad
And down in lovely muck 1
Happy till I woke again.
Then
I
so bad,
;
've lain,
saw the morning sky
Heigho, the tale was
92
all
a
:
lie
;
/
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
The
I
world,
was
I,
And
it
my
was the old world
yet,
things were wet,
now remained
nothing
do
to
But begin the game anew.
Therefore, since the world has
still
Much good, but much less good than
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck
I 'd
a chance, but trouble
's
face
And
it
as a wise
train for
ill
and not
'Tis true, the stuff
Is
I
for good.
bring for sale
it
But take
The
it
in a
:
if
weary
hand
land.
the smack
is
sour,
better for the embittered hour
It should
When
And
:
a stem that scored the
wrung
sure,
would.
not so brisk a brew as ale
Out of
I
man
's
;
do good to heart and head
your soul
I will
is
in
my
friend you, if
soul's stead
I
may.
In the dark and cloudy day.
93
ill.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
There was a king reigned
There,
when kings
Thej get
their
fill
in the East
will sit to feast,
before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned
He
gathered
all
that springs to birth
From the many-venoraed
sampled
And
all
her killing store
easy, smiling, seasoned sound.
Sate the king
They put
And
when
healths
arsenic in his
went round.
meat
stared aghast to watch
They poured strychnine
And
earth
thence to more.
First a little,
He
him
shook to see him drink
Them
it
I tell
eat
cup
in his
up
it
They shook, they stared as white
—
drink.
's
their shirt
was their poison hurt.
the tale that
I
heard
Mithridates, he died old.
94
told.
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
LXIII
I
HOED and trenched and weeded.
And
I
took the
ers to fair
flo,
brought them home unheeded
The hue was not the
So up and down
For lads hke
When
A
I
sow them
me
I shall lie
wear.
to find.
below them,
dead man out of mind.
Some
seeds the birds devour.
And some
the season mars.
But here and there
The
will flower
solitary stars,
95
;
A SHROPSHIRE LAD
And
As
And
fields will
yearly bear
them
light-leaved spring comes on,
luckless lads will
When
I
wear them
am dead and
The End
gone.
PR
4.809
Housman, Alfred Edward
A Shropshire lad
H15A7
1917
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