Alfred Edward Housman
British classical scholar and poet (1859-1936)
1859–1936, born in Worcestershire
- Born
- 26 March 1859
- Birthplace
- Worcestershire
- Died
- 30 April 1936
From their work
Three minutes' thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time.
Read the opening of A Shropshire Lad · about 1 min
From Clee to heaven the beacon burns, The shires have seen it plain, From north and south the sign returns And beacons burn again.
Look left, look right, the hills are bright, The dales are light between, Because 'tis fifty years to-night That God has saved the Queen.
Now, when the flame they watch not towers About the soil they trod, Lads, we'll remember friends of ours Who shared the work with God.
To skies that knit their heartstrings right, To fields that bred them brave, The saviours come not home to-night: Themselves they could not save.
It dawns in Asia, tombstones show And Shropshire names are read; And the Nile spills his overflow Beside the Severn's dead.
We pledge in peace by farm and town The Queen they served in war, And fire the beacons up and down The land they perished for.
"God Save the Queen" we living sing, From height to height 'tis heard; And with the rest your voices ring, Lads of the Fifty-third.
Oh, God will save her, fear you not: Be you the men you've been, Get you the sons your fathers got, And God will Save the Queen.
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0). Texts of this author are in the public domain in the UK.