Poem by Alfred Edward Housman

Last Poems. 37. Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries

These, in the days when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and the earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.

1. More Poems. 9. When Green Buds Hang in the Elm Like Dust
2. More Poems. 11. The Rainy Pleiads Wester
3. Additional Poems. 13. Oh Turn not in from Marching
4. Additional Poems. 4. It Is No Gift I Tender
5. More Poems. 24. Stone, Steel, Dominions Pass

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