Poem by Alfred Edward Housman

A Shropshire Lad. 49. Think No More, Lad

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. 

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

Print

2085 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version