The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #109817 Message #2320276
Posted By: Jim Dixon
19-Apr-08 - 05:01 PM
Thread Name: Lyr ADD: Is My Team Ploughing (A. E. Housman)
Subject: Lyr Add: IS MY TEAM PLOUGHING (A. E. Housman)
From A Shropshire Lad, by A. E. Housman, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1923, page 38ff:
XXVII
'Is my team ploughing, That I was used to drive And hear the harness jingle When I was man alive?'
Ay, the horses trample, The harness jingles now; No change though you lie under The land you used to plough.
'Is football playing Along the river shore, With lads to chase the leather, Now I stand up no more?'
Ay, the ball is flying, The lads play heart and soul; The goal stands up, the keeper Stands up to keep the goal.
'Is my girl happy, That I thought hard to leave, And has she tired of weeping As she lies down at eve?'
Ay, she lies down lightly, She lies not down to weep: Your girl is well contented. Be still, my lad, and sleep.
'Is my friend hearty, Now I am thin and pine, And has he found to sleep in A better bed than mine?'
Yes, lad, I lie easy, I lie as lads would choose; I cheer a dead man's sweetheart, Never ask me whose.