Think No More, Lad; Laugh, Be Jolly

Alfred Edward Housman

Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly:
Why should men make haste to die?
Empty heads and tongues a-talking
Make the rough road easy walking,
And the feather pate of folly
Bears the falling sky.

Oh, ’tis jesting, dancing, drinking
Spins the heavy world around.
If young hearts were not so clever,
Oh, they would be young for ever:
Think no more; ’tis only thinking
Lays lads underground.

Next 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : This Time Of Year A Twelvemonth Past
• Alfred Edward Housman : Tis Time, I Think, By Wenlock Town
• Alfred Edward Housman : To An Athlete Dying Young
• Alfred Edward Housman : Twice A Week The Winter Thorough
• Alfred Edward Housman : Wake Not For The World-heard Thunder
• Alfred Edward Housman : Westward On The High-hilled Plains
• Alfred Edward Housman : When I Came Last To Ludlow
• Alfred Edward Housman : When I Was One-and-twenty
• Alfred Edward Housman : When I Watch The Living Meet
• Alfred Edward Housman : When Smoke Stood Up From Ludlow

Previous 10 Poems

• Alfred Edward Housman : Think No More, Lad
• Alfred Edward Housman : There Pass The Careless People
• Alfred Edward Housman : The Winds Out Of The West Land Blow
• Alfred Edward Housman : The Welsh Marches
• Alfred Edward Housman : The True Lover
• Alfred Edward Housman : The Street Sounds To The Soldiers' Tread
• Alfred Edward Housman : The Stinging Nettle
• Alfred Edward Housman : The Recruit
• Alfred Edward Housman : The Rainy Pleiads Wester
• Alfred Edward Housman : The New Mistress