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 sun burns on the half-mown hill,
By now the blood is dried;
And Maurice amongst the hay lies still
And my knife is in his side.

"My mother thinks us long away;
'Tis time the field were mown.
She had two sons at rising day,
To-night she'll be alone.

"And here's a bloody hand to shake,
And oh, man, here's good-bye;
We'll sweat no more on scythe and rake,
My bloody hands and I.

"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 green.

"Long for me the rick will wait,
And long will wait the fold,
And long will stand the empty plate,
And dinner will be cold." 

Next 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : Fragment Of A Greek Tragedy
• Alfred Edward Housman : From Far, From Eve And Morning
• Alfred Edward Housman : Here Dead We Lie
• Alfred Edward Housman : Ho, Everyone That Thirsteth
• Alfred Edward Housman : Hughley Steeple
• Alfred Edward Housman : I Hoed And Trenched And Weeded
• Alfred Edward Housman : If By Chance Your Eye Offend You
• Alfred Edward Housman : If Truth In Hearts That Perish
• Alfred Edward Housman : In My Own Shire, If I Was Sad
• Alfred Edward Housman : In Valleys Of Springs And Rivers

Previous 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : Far In A Western Brookland
• Alfred Edward Housman : Epitaph On An Army Of Mercenaries
• Alfred Edward Housman : Eight O'clock
• Alfred Edward Housman : Diffugere Nives ( Horace, Odes 4.7 )
• Alfred Edward Housman : Could Man Be Drunk Forever
• Alfred Edward Housman : Clunton And Clunbury
• Alfred Edward Housman : Bring, In This Timeless Grave To Throw
• Alfred Edward Housman : Bredon Hill
• Alfred Edward Housman : Be Still, My Soul, Be Still; The Arms You Bear Are Brittle
• Alfred Edward Housman : Be Still, My Soul, Be Still