Last Poems by A. E. Housman

XXXVIII.

     Oh stay at home, my lad, and plough
         The land and not the sea,
     And leave the soldiers at their drill,
     And all about the idle hill
         Shepherd your sheep with me.

     Oh stay with company and mirth
         And daylight and the air;
     Too full already is the grave
     Of fellows that were good and brave
         And died because they were.