Alfred Edward Housman

Additional Poems. 6. Ask Me no More, for Fear I Should Reply

Ask me no more, for fear I should reply;
        Others have held their tongues, and so can I,
Hundreds have died, and told no tale before:
        Ask me no more, for fear I should reply —

How one was true and one was clean of stain
        And one was braver than the heavens are high,
And one was fond of me: and all are slain.
        Ask me no more, for fear I should reply.