Poem by Alfred Edward Housman

A Shropshire Lad. 3. The Recruit

LEAVE your home behind, lad,
  And reach your friends your hand,
And go, and luck go with you
  While Ludlow tower shall stand.
 
Oh, come you home of Sunday
  When Ludlow streets are still
And Ludlow bells are calling
  To farm and lane and mill,
 
Or come you home of Monday
  When Ludlow market hums
And Ludlow chimes are playing
  ‘The conquering hero comes,’
 
Come you home a hero,
  Or come not home at all,
The lads you leave will mind you
  Till Ludlow tower shall fall.
 
And you will list the bugle
  That blows in lands of morn,
And make the foes of England
  Be sorry you were born.
 
And you till trump of doomsday
  On lands of morn may lie,
And make the hearts of comrades
  Be heavy where you die.
 
Leave your home behind you,
  Your friends by field and town:
Oh, town and field will mind you
  Till Ludlow tower is down.

1. More Poems. 28. He, Standing Hushed, a Pace or Two Apart
2. More Poems. 37. I Did Not Lose My Heart in Summer’s Even
3. Last Poems. 33. When the Eye of Day Is Shut
4. More Poems. 29. From the Wash the Laundress Sends
5. Last Poems. 19. In Midnights of November

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