On Moonlight Heath by A. E. Housman

On Moonlight Heath by A. E. Housman

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 hangmans 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.

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