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. 37. I Did Not Lose My Heart in Summer’s Even
2. More Poems. 29. From the Wash the Laundress Sends
3. More Poems. 28. He, Standing Hushed, a Pace or Two Apart
4. Last Poems. 33. When the Eye of Day Is Shut
5. A Shropshire Lad. 41. In My Own Shire, if I Was Sad

Print

2352 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version