Poem by Alfred Edward Housman

A Shropshire Lad. 6. When the Lad for Longing Sighs

WHEN the lad for longing sighs,
  Mute and dull of cheer and pale,
If at death’s own door he lies,
  Maiden, you can heal his ail.
 
Lovers’ ills are all to buy:
  The wan look, the hollow tone,
The hung head, the sunken eye,
  You can have them for your own.

Buy them, buy them: eve and morn
  Lovers’ ills are all to sell.
Then you can lie down forlorn;
  But the lover will be well.

1. More Poems. 18. Delight it Is in Youth and May
2. More Poems. 37. I Did Not Lose My Heart in Summer’s Even
3. A Shropshire Lad. 46. Bring, in this Timeless Grave to Throw
4. Additional Poems. 16. Some Can Gaze and not Be Sick
5. More Poems. 21. The World Goes None the Lamer

Print

3750 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version