11 A. E. Housman Quotes on Death

A. E. Housman quotes on death

11. Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy springs a score, It only leaves me fifty more. And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow.

12. Clay lies still, but blood's a rover; Breath's a ware that will not keep. Up, lad: when the journey's over There'll be time enough to sleep.

18. To-day, the road all runners come, Shoulder-high, we bring you home, And set you at your threshold down, Townsman of a stiller town.

19. And silence sounds no worse than cheers After earth has stopped the ears.

21. They carry back bright to the coiner the mintage of man, The lads that will die in their glory and never be old.

22. But from my grave across my brow Plays no wind of healing now, And fire and ice within me fight Beneath the suffocating night.

26. Be still, my soul, be still; the arms you bear are brittle, Earth and high heaven are fixt of old and founded strong.

29. With rue my heart is laden For golden friends I had, For many a rose-lipt maiden And many a lightfoot lad. By brooks too broad for leaping The lightfoot boys are laid; The rose-lipt girls are sleeping In fields where roses fade.

38. He stood, and heard the steeple Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town. One, two, three, four, to market-place and people It tossed them down. Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour, He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; And then the clock collected in the tower Its strength, and struck.

43. Hope lies to mortals And most believe her, But man's deceiver Was never mine.

47. We now to peace and darkness And earth and thee restore Thy creature that thou madest And wilt cast forth no more.