In Valleys Of Springs And Rivers

Alfred Edward Housman

"Clunton and Clunbury,
Clungunford and Clun,
Are the quietest places
Under the sun."


In valleys of springs and rivers,
By Ony and Teme and Clun,
The country for easy livers,
The quietest under the sun,

We still had sorrows to lighten,
One could not be always glad,
And lads knew trouble at Knighton
When I was a Knighton lad.

By bridges that Thames runs under,
In London, the town built ill,
'Tis sure small matter for wonder
If sorrow is with one still.

And if as a lad grows older
The troubles he bears are more,
He carries his griefs on a shoulder
That handselled them long before.

Where shall one halt to deliver
This luggage I'd lief set down?
Not Thames, not Teme is the river,
Nor London nor Knighton the town:

'Tis a long way further than Knighton,
A quieter place than Clun,
Where doomsday may thunder and lighten
And little 'twill matter to one. 

Next 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : Into My Heart An Air That Kills
• Alfred Edward Housman : Is My Team Ploughing
• Alfred Edward Housman : It Nods And Curtseys And Recovers
• Alfred Edward Housman : Loitering With A Vacant Eye
• Alfred Edward Housman : Look Not In My Eyes, For Fear
• Alfred Edward Housman : Loveliest Of Trees, The Cherry Now
• Alfred Edward Housman : March
• Alfred Edward Housman : Now Hollow Fires Burn Out To Black
• Alfred Edward Housman : O Why Do You Walk ( A Parody )
• Alfred Edward Housman : Oh Fair Enough Are Sky And Plain

Previous 10 Poems

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