IX. On moonlit heath and lonesome bank. Housman, A. E. 1896. A Shropshire Lad

A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896.

IX. On moonlit heath and lonesome bank


ON moonlit heath and lonesome bank
The sheep beside me graze;
And yon the gallows used to clank
Fast by the four cross ways.

A careless shepherd once would keep	5
The flocks by moonlight there, 1
And high amongst the glimmering sheep
The dead man stood on air.

They hang us now in Shrewsbury jail:
The whistles blow forlorn,	10
And trains all night groan on the rail
To men that die at morn.

There sleeps in Shrewsbury jail to-night,
Or wakes, as may betide,
A better lad, if things went right,	15
Than most that sleep outside.

And naked to the hangman’s noose
The morning clocks will ring
A neck God made for other use
Than strangling in a string.	20

And sharp the link of life will snap,
And dead on air will stand
Heels that held up as straight a chap
As treads upon the land.

So here I ’ll watch the night and wait	25
To see the morning shine,
When he will hear the stroke of eight
And not the stroke of nine;

And wish my friend as sound a sleep
As lads’ I did not know,	30
That shepherded the moonlit sheep
A hundred years ago. Line 6: Hanging in chains was called keeping sheep by moonlight.