Poem by Alfred Edward Housman

Last Poems. 6. Lancer

I ’listed at home for a lancer,
        Oh who would not sleep with the brave?
I ’listed at home for a lancer
        To ride on a horse to my grave.

And over the seas we were bidden
        A country to take and to keep;
And far with the brave I have ridden,
        And now with the brave I shall sleep.

For round me the men will be lying
        That learned me the way to behave,
And showed me my business of dying:
        Oh who would not sleep with the brave?

They ask and there is not an answer;
Says I, I will ’list for a lancer,
        Oh who would not sleep with the brave?

And I with the brave shall be sleeping
        At ease on my mattress of loam,
When back from their taking and keeping
        The squadron is riding at home.

The wind with the plumes will be playing,
        The girls will stand watching them wave,
And eyeing my comrades and saying
        Oh who would not sleep with the brave?
They ask and there is not an answer;
Says you, I will ’list for a lancer,
        Oh who would not sleep with the brave?

1. More Poems. 33. On Forelands High in Heaven
2. Last Poems. 39. When Summer’s End Is Nighing
3. Last Poems. 22. The Sloe Was Lost in Flower
4. More Poems. 21. The World Goes None the Lamer
5. More Poems. 39. My Dreams Are of a Field Afar

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