Alfred Edward Housman

Last Poems. 18. The Rain, It Streams on Stone and Hillock

The rain, it streams on stone and hillock,
        The boot clings to the clay.
Since all is done that’s due and right
Let’s home; and now, my lad, good-night,
        For I must turn away.

Good-night, my lad, for nought’s eternal;
        No league of ours, for sure.
To-morrow I shall miss you less,
And ache of heart and heaviness
        Are things that time should cure.

Over the hill the highway marches
        And what’s beyond is wide:
Oh soon enough will pine to nought
Remembrance and the faithful thought
        That sits the grave beside.

The skies, they are not always raining
        Nor grey the twelvemonth through;
And I shall meet good days and mirth,
And range the lovely lands of earth
        With friends no worse than you.

But oh, my man, the house is fallen
        That none can build again;
My man, how full of joy and woe
Your mother bore you years ago
        To-night to lie in the rain.