Is my team plowing

 

A.E. HOUSMAN

[I839-I936]

 

Poetry \ Eng 9

 


"Is my team plowing,

      That I was used to drive

And hear the harness jingle

      When I was man alive?"

 

Ay, the horses trample,

      The harness jingles now;

No change though you lie under

      The land you used to plow.

 

"Is football playing

      Along the river shore,

With lads to chase the leather,

      Now I stand up no more?"

 

Ay, the ball is flying,

      The lads play heart and soul;

The goal stands, Up, the keeper

      Stands Up to keep the goal.


"Is my girl happy,

       That I thought hard to leave,

And has she tired of weeping

      As she lies down at eve?"

 

Ay, she lies down lightly,

      She lies not down to weep:

Your girl is well contented.

      Be still, my lad, and sleep.

 

"Is my friend hearty,

      Now I am thin and pine,

And has he found to sleep in

       A better bed than mine?"

 

Yes, lad, I lie easy,

      I lie as lads would choose;

I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,

       Never ask me whose.