David Harley Words & Music & Pictures &…

The lyric is from Housman’s ‘A Shropshire Lad’ (LII), the tune is mine. I only recently realized that I hadn’t put it on any of my blogs. It’s likely to reappear shortly on an album, though.

[Backup]

Far in a western brookland
That bred me long ago
The poplars stand and tremble
By pools I used to know.

There, in the windless night-time,
The wanderer, marvelling why,
Halts on the bridge to hearken
How soft the poplars sigh.

He hears: long since forgotten
In fields where I was known,
Here I lie down in London
And turn to rest alone.

There, by the starlit fences,
The wanderer halts and hears
My soul that lingers sighing
About the glimmering weirs.