The lad came to the door at night,
When lovers crown their vows,
And whistled soft and out of sight
In shadow of the boughs.
“I shall not vex you with my face
Henceforth, my love, for aye;
So take me in your arms a space
Before the cast is grey.
“When I from hence away am past
I shall not find a bride,
And you shall be the first and last
I ever lay beside.”
She heard and went and knew not why;
Her heart to his she laid;
Light was the air beneath the sky
But dark under the shade.
“Oh do you breathe, lad, that your breast
Seems not to rise and fall,
And here upon my bosom prest
There beats no heart at all?”
“Oh loud, my girl, it once would knock,
You should have felt it then;
But since for you I stopped the clock
It never goes again.”
“Oh lad, what is it, lad, that drips
Wet from your neck on mine?
What is it falling on my lips,
My lad, that tastes of brine?”
“Oh like enough ’tis blood, my dear,
For when the knife was slit,
The throat across from ear to ear
‘Twill bleed because of it.”
Under the stars the air was light
But dark below the boughs,
The still air of the speechless night,
When lovers crown their vows.
(A. E. Housman)
More Poetry from A. E. Housman:
A. E. Housman Poems based on Topics: Love, Night, Light, Sense & Perception, Space- LXII: Terence, This is Stupid Stuff (A E Housman Poems)
- IX: The Chestnut Casts His Flambeaux and the Flowers (A E Housman Poems)
- XIII: The Deserter (A E Housman Poems)
- Diffugere Nives (A E Housman Poems)
- I:1887 (A E Housman Poems)
- IX: On Moonlit Heath and Lonesome Bank (A E Housman Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Night Poems, Light Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Space PoemsBased on Keywords: drips, whistled, tastes, brine, slit
- One Day And Another: A Lyrical Eclogue - Part I (Madison Julius Cawein Poems)
- Parisina (Lord George Gordon Byron Poems)
- The Golden Legend: VI. The School Of Salerno (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poems)
- Of The Nature Of Things: Book II - Part 03 - Atomic Forms And Their Combinations (Lucretius Poems)
- The School Of The Heart. Lesson The Second. (Henry Alford Poems)