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by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)

Goal and wicket
 (Sung text for setting by J. Ireland)
 Matches original text
Language: English 
Twice a week the winter thorough
  Here stood I to keep the goal:
Football then was fighting sorrow
  For the young man's soul.

Now in Maytime to the wicket
  Out I march with bat and pad:
See the son of grief at cricket
  Trying to be glad.

Try I will; no harm in trying:
  Wonder 'tis how little mirth
Keeps the bones of man from lying
  On the bed of earth.

Composition:

    Set to music by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "Goal and wicket", published 1921 [ voice and piano ], from The Land of Lost Content, no. 3

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 17, first published 1896

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 71

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