Alfred Edward Housman

Additional Poems. 14. Oh Is It the Jar of Nations

„Oh is it the jar of nations,
        The noise of a world run mad,
The fleeing of earth’s foundations?”
        Yes, yes; 1ie quiet, my lad.

„Oh is it my country calling,
        And whom will my country find
To shore up the sky from falling?”
        My business; never you mind.

„Oh is it the newsboys crying
        Lost battle, retreat, despair,
And honour and England dying?”
        Well, fighting cock, what if it were?

The devil this side of the darnels
        Is having a dance with man,
And quarrelsome chaps in charnels
        Must bear it as best they can.