The street sounds to the soldiers' tread, And out we troop to see: A single redcoat turns his head, He turns and looks at me. My man, from sky to sky's so far, We never crossed before; Such leagues apart the world's ends are, We're like to meet no more. What thoughts at heart have you and I We cannot stop to tell; But dead or living, drunk or dry, Soldier, I wish you well.
Housman Songs
Song Cycle by Louis Crerar
?. The street sounds to the soldiers' tread  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 22, first published 1896
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry?. We'll to the woods no more  [sung text not yet checked]
We'll to the Woods no more The laurels all are cut, The bowers are bare of bay That once the Muses wore. The year draws in the day And soon will evening shut: The laurels all are cut We'll to the woods no more. Oh, we'll no more, no more To the leafy woods away, To the high wild woods of laurel And the bowers of bay no more.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in Last Poems, first published 1922
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry?. Oh fair enough are sky and plain  [sung text not yet checked]
Oh fair enough are sky and plain, But I know fairer far: Those are as beautiful again That in the water are; The pools and rivers wash so clean The trees and clouds and air, The like on earth was never seen, And oh that I were there. These are the thoughts I often think As I stand gazing down In act upon the cressy brink To strip and dive and drown; But in the golden-sanded brooks And azure meres I spy A silly lad that longs and looks And wishes he were I.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 20, first published 1896
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. When I was one‑and‑twenty  [sung text not yet checked]
When I was one-and-twenty I heard [a wise man]1 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.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 13, first published 1896
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Patricia Dillard Eguchi) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Als ich war einundzwanzig", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HEB Hebrew (עברית) (Max Mader) , "כאשר הייתי בן עשרים ואחת", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Steele: "an old man"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]