A Shropshire Lad XXVI: Along the field as we came by

Housman, A. E. (1859 - 1936)

Original Text

A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co., 1896): 37-38. del H68 S551896 Fisher Rare Book Library

1Along the field as we came by

2A year ago, my love and I,

3The aspen over stile and stone

4Was talking to itself alone.

5"Oh who are these that kiss and pass?

6A country lover and his lass;

7Two lovers looking to be wed;

8And time shall put them both to bed,

9But she shall lie with earth above,

10And he beside another love."

11And sure enough beneath the tree

12There walks another love with me,

13And overhead the aspen heaves

14Its rainy-sounding silver leaves;

15And I spell nothing in their stir,

16But now perhaps they speak to her,

17And plain for her to understand

18They talk about a time at hand

19When I shall sleep with clover clad,

20And she beside another lad.

Publication Start Year

1896

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

RPO 1996-2000.