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. 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

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