A Shropshire Lad Part 9

To south the headstones cl.u.s.ter, The sunny mounds lie thick; The dead are more in muster At Hughley than the quick.

North, for a soon-told number, Chill graves the s.e.xton delves, And steeple-shadowed slumber The slayers of themselves.

To north, to south, lie parted, With Hughley tower above, The kind, the single-hearted, The lads I used to love.

And, south or north, 'tis only A choice of friends one knows, And I shall ne'er be lonely Asleep with these or those.

LXII

"Terence, this is stupid stuff: You eat your victuals fast enough; There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear, To see the rate you drink your beer.

But oh, good Lord, the verse you make, It gives a chap the belly-ache.

The cow, the old cow, she is dead; It sleeps well, the horned head: We poor lads, 'tis our turn now To hear such tunes as killed the cow.

Pretty friends.h.i.+p 'tis to rhyme Your friends to death before their time Moping melancholy mad: Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad."

Why, if 'tis dancing you would be, There's brisker pipes than poetry.

Say, for what were hop-yards meant, Or why was Burton built on Trent?

Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify G.o.d's ways to man.

Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink For fellows whom it hurts to think: Look into the pewter pot To see the world as the world's not.

And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past: The mischief is that 'twill not last.

Oh I have been to Ludlow fair And left my necktie G.o.d knows where, And carried half-way home, or near, Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer: Then the world seemed none so bad, And I myself a sterling lad; And down in lovely muck I've lain, Happy till I woke again.

Then I saw the morning sky: Heigho, the tale was all a lie; The world, it was the old world yet, I was I, my things were wet, And nothing now remained to do But begin the game anew.

Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure, I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good.

'Tis true the stuff I bring for sale Is not so brisk a brew as ale: Out of a stem that scored the hand I wrung it in a weary land.

But take it: if the smack is sour, The better for the embittered hour; It should do good to heart and head When your soul is in my soul's stead; And I will friend you, if I may, In the dark and cloudy day.

There was a king reigned in the East: There, when kings will sit to feast, They get their fill before they think With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.

He gathered all that springs to birth From the many-venomed earth; First a little, thence to more, He sampled all her killing store; And easy, smiling, seasoned sound, Sate the king when healths went round.

They put a.r.s.enic in his meat And stared aghast to watch him eat; They poured strychnine in his cup And shook to see him drink it up: They shook, they stared as white's their s.h.i.+rt: Them it was their poison hurt.

-I tell the tale that I heard told.

Mithridates, he died old.

LXIII

I Hoed and trenched and weeded, And took the flowers to fair: I brought them home unheeded; The hue was not the wear.

So up and down I sow them For lads like me to find, When I shall lie below them, A dead man out of mind.

Some seed the birds devour, And some the season mars, But here and there will flower The solitary stars,

And fields will yearly bear them As light-leaved spring comes on, And luckless lads will wear them When I am dead and gone.