E. Housman
E. Housman
heart rose rue
With rue my heart is laden For golden friends I had, For many a rose-lipped maiden And many a lightfoot lad.
heart men thinking
But men at whiles are sober And think by fits and starts. And if they think, they fasten Their hands upon their hearts
heart giving rubies
Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies, But keep your fancy free.
flower farewell heart
Because I liked you better Than suits a man to say, It irked you, and I promised I'd throw the thought away. To put the world between us We parted stiff and dry: 'Farewell,' said you, 'forget me.' 'Fare well, I will,' said I. If e'er, where clover whitens The dead man's knoll, you pass, And no tall flower to meet you Starts in the trefoiled grass, Halt by the headstone shading The heart you have not stirred, And say the lad that loved you Was one that kept his word.
morning lying heart
Could man be drunk for ever With liquor, love, or fights, Lief should I rouse at morning And lief lie down of nights. But men at whiles are sober And think by fits and starts, And if they think, they fasten Their hands upon their hearts.
wise heart men
When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, `Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies But keep your fancy free.' But I was one-and-twenty No use to talk to me. When I was one-and-twenty I heard him say again, `The heart out of the bosom Was never given in vain; 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty And sold for endless rue.' And I am two-and-twenty And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.
heart sea feet
I sought them far and found them, The sure, the straight, the brave, The hearts I lost my own to, The souls I could not save They braced their belts about them, They crossed in ships the sea, They sought and found six feet of ground, And there they died for me.
heart hands half
He would not stay for me, and who can wonder? He would not stay for me to stand and gaze. I shook his hand, and tore my heart in sunder, And went with half my life about my ways.
golden heart maiden
With rue my heart is laden / For golden friends I had, / For many a rose-lipt maiden / And many a lightfoot lad.
heart men blue
His folly has not fellow Beneath the blue of day That gives to man or woman His heart and soul away.
air blue country far farms heart remembered
Into my heart an air that kills / From yon far country blows: / What are those blue remembered hills, / What spires, what farms are those?
comfort lad luck small
Little is the luck I've had, And oh, 'tis comfort small - To think that many another lad - Has had no luck at all
brute certainty cursed hopeful plans sat tempest whatever
We for a certainty are not the first have sat in taverns while the tempest hurled their hopeful plans to emptiness, and cursed whatever brute and blackguard made the world.
perfect understanding sometimes
Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure.