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.

A careless shepherd once would keep
The flocks by moonlight there,
And high amongst the glimmering sheep
The dead man stood on air.

They hang us now in Shrewsbury jail:
The whistles blow forlorn,
And trains all night groan on the rail
To men that die at morn.

There sleeps in Shrewsbury jail to-night,
Or wakes, as may betide,
A better lad, if things went right,
Than most that sleep outside.

And naked to the hangman’s noose
The morning clocks will ring
A neck God made for other use
Than strangling in a string.

And sharp the link of life will snap,
And dead on air will stand
Heels that held up as straight a chap
As treads upon the land.

So here I’ll watch the night and wait
To see the morning shine,
When he will hear the stroke of eight
And not the stroke of nine;

And wish my friend as sound a sleep
As lads’ I did not know,
That shepherded the moonlit sheep
A hundred years ago.

Next 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : On The Idle Hill Of Summer
• Alfred Edward Housman : On Wenlock Edge The Wood's In Trouble
• Alfred Edward Housman : On Your Midnight Pallet Lying
• Alfred Edward Housman : Others, I Am Not The First
• Alfred Edward Housman : Reveille
• Alfred Edward Housman : Say, Lad, Have You Things To Do?
• Alfred Edward Housman : Shot? So Quick, So Clean An Ending?
• Alfred Edward Housman : Stars
• Alfred Edward Housman : Tell Me Not Here, It Needs Not Saying
• Alfred Edward Housman : Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff

Previous 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : Oh, When I Was In Love With You
• Alfred Edward Housman : Oh Who Is That Young Sinner
• Alfred Edward Housman : Oh Stay At Home, My Lad
• Alfred Edward Housman : Oh See How Thick The Goldcup Flowers
• Alfred Edward Housman : Oh Fair Enough Are Sky And Plain
• Alfred Edward Housman : O Why Do You Walk ( A Parody )
• Alfred Edward Housman : Now Hollow Fires Burn Out To Black
• Alfred Edward Housman : March
• Alfred Edward Housman : Loveliest Of Trees, The Cherry Now
• Alfred Edward Housman : Look Not In My Eyes, For Fear