All Poems
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On Moonlit Heath and Lonesome Bank
© Alfred Edward Housman
On moonlit heath and lonesome bank
The sheep beside me graze;
And yon the gallows used to clank
Fast by the four cross ways.
The Recruit
© Alfred Edward Housman
Leave your home behind, lad,
And reach your friends your hand,
And go, and luck go with you
While Ludlow tower shall stand.
The Fairies Break Their Dances
© Alfred Edward Housman
The fairies break their dances
And leave the printed lawn,
And up from India glances
The silver sail of dawn.
The Chestnut Casts His Flambeaux
© Alfred Edward Housman
The chestnut casts his flambeaux, and the flowers
Stream from the hawthorn on the wind away,
The doors clap to, the pane is blind with showers.
Pass me the can, lad; there's an end of May.
Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree
© Alfred Edward Housman
"Farewell to barn and stack and tree,
Farewell to Severn shore.
Terence, look your last at me,
For I come home no more.
The Street Sounds to the Soldiers' Tread
© Alfred Edward Housman
The street sounds to the soldiers' tread,
And out we troop to see:
A single redcoat turns his head,
He turns and looks at me.
If Truth in Hearts That Perish
© Alfred Edward Housman
If truth in hearts that perish
Could move the powers on high,
I think the love I bear you
Should make you not to die.
As Through the Wild Green Hills of Wyre
© Alfred Edward Housman
As through the wild green hills of Wyre
The train ran, changing sky and shire,
And far behind, a fading crest,
Low in the forsaken west
The Isle Of Portland
© Alfred Edward Housman
The star-filled seas are smooth tonight
From France to England strown;
Black towers above Portland light
The felon-quarried stone.
The Lent Lily
© Alfred Edward Housman
'Tis spring; come out to ramble
The hilly brakes around,
For under thorn and bramble
About the hollow ground
The primroses are found.
Diffugere Nives (Horace, Odes 4.7)
© Alfred Edward Housman
The snows are fled away, leaves on the shaws
And grasses in the mead renew their birth,
The river to the river-bed withdraws,
And altered is the fashion of the earth.
The Carpenter's Son
© Alfred Edward Housman
"Here the hangman stops his cart:
Now the best of friends must part.
Fare you well, for ill fare I:
Live, lads, and I will die.
Bredon Hill
© Alfred Edward Housman
In summertime on Bredon
The bells they sound so clear;
Round both the shires they ring them
In steeples far and near,
A happy noise to hear.
Look not in my eyes, for fear
© Alfred Edward Housman
Look not in my eyes, for fear
Thy mirror true the sight I see,
And there you find your face too clear
And love it and be lost like me.
The True Lover
© Alfred Edward Housman
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.
O Why Do You Walk (a Parody)
© Alfred Edward Housman
O why do you walk through the fields in boots,
Missing so much and so much?
O fat white woman whom nobody shoots,
Why do you walk through the fields in boots,
When the grass is soft as the breast of coots
And shivering-sweet to the touch?
Could Man Be Drunk Forever
© Alfred Edward Housman
Could man be drunk for ever
With liquor, love, or fights,
Lief should I rouse at morning
And lief lie down of nights.
Oh, when I was in love with you
© Alfred Edward Housman
Oh, when I was in love with you,
Then I was clean and brave,
And miles around the wonder grew
How well did I behave.
You Smile Upon Your Friend To-Day
© Alfred Edward Housman
You smile upon your friend to-day,
To-day his ills are over;
You hearken to the lover's say,
And happy is the lover.
The Merry Guide
© Alfred Edward Housman
Once in the wind of morning
I ranged the thymy wold;
The world-wide air was azure
And all the brooks ran gold.
