English Poetry. Alfred Edward Housman. Last Poems. 7. In Valleys Green and Still. Альфред Эдвард Хаусман (Хаусмен).

Alfred Edward Housman (Альфред Эдвард Хаусман (Хаусмен))

Last Poems. 7. In Valleys Green and Still

In valleys green and still
        Where lovers wander maying
They hear from over hill
        A music playing.

Behind the drum and fife,
        Past hawthornwood and hollow,
Through earth and out of life
        The soldiers follow.

The soldier’s is the trade:
        In any wind or weather
He steals the heart of maid
        And man together.

The lover and his lass
        Beneath the hawthorn lying
Have heard the soldiers pass,
        And both are sighing.

And down the distance they
        With dying note and swelling
Walk the resounding way
        To the still dwelling.

Alfred Edward Housman’s other poems:

1. Last Poems. 19. In Midnights of November
2. Last Poems. 14. The Culprit
3. Last Poems. 20. The Night Is Freezing Fast
4. Last Poems. 27. The Sigh That Heaves the Grasses
5. More Poems. 14. The Farms of Home Lie Lost in Even

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