A Shropshire Lad, IX A. E. Housman - 1896

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 flock 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.

From LOVELIEST OF TREES Polly Bolton Band 1996 SHEPHERD MUSIC SHEP CD 01
Settings of A.E. Housman poems by Polly Bolton, John Shepherd and Steve Dunachie; readings by Nigel Hawthorne.