Is my team plowing

A.E. Housman

“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.