Bredon Hill

Alfred Edward Housman

In summertime on Bredon
The bells they sound so clear;
Round both the shires the ring them
In steeples far and near,
A happy noise to hear.

Here of a Sunday morning
My love and I would lie,
And see the coloured counties,
And hear the larks so high
About us in the sky.

The bells would ring to call her
In valleys miles away:
“Come all to church, good people;
Good people, come and pray.”
But here my love would 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.”

But when the snows at Christmas
On Bredon top were strown,
My love rose 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 still the steeples hum.
“Come all to church, good people,”—
Oh, noisy bells, be dumb;
I hear you, I will come.

Next 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : Bring, In This Timeless Grave To Throw
• Alfred Edward Housman : Clunton And Clunbury
• Alfred Edward Housman : Could Man Be Drunk Forever
• Alfred Edward Housman : Diffugere Nives ( Horace, Odes 4.7 )
• Alfred Edward Housman : Eight O'clock
• Alfred Edward Housman : Epitaph On An Army Of Mercenaries
• Alfred Edward Housman : Far In A Western Brookland
• Alfred Edward Housman : Farewell To Barn And Stack And Tree
• Alfred Edward Housman : Fragment Of A Greek Tragedy
• Alfred Edward Housman : From Far, From Eve And Morning

Previous 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : Be Still, My Soul, Be Still; The Arms You Bear Are Brittle
• Alfred Edward Housman : Be Still, My Soul, Be Still
• Alfred Edward Housman : As Through The Wild Green Hills Of Wyre
• Alfred Edward Housman : Along The Field As We Came By
• Alfred Edward Housman : 1887
• Gerard Manley Hopkins : What Shall I Do For The Land That Bred Me
• Gerard Manley Hopkins : What Being In Rank-old Nature Should Earlier Have That Breath Been
• Gerard Manley Hopkins : What Being In Rank-old Nature
• Gerard Manley Hopkins : Tom's Garland
• Gerard Manley Hopkins : To What Serves Mortal Beauty?