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XXIV. [Say, lad, have you things to do?]

by A. E. Housman, 1896

Say, lad, have you things to do?
 Quick then, while your day's at prime.
Quick, and if 'tis work for two,
 Here am I, man: now's your time.

Send me now, and I shall go;
 Call me, I shall hear you call;
Use me ere they lay me low
 Where a man's no use at all;

Ere the wholesome flesh decay,
 And the willing nerve be numb,
And the lips lack breath to say,
 "No, my lad, I cannot come."

Published in A Shropshire Lad
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