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LXI. Hughley Steeple

by A. E. Housman, 1896

The vane on Hughley steeple
 Veers bright, a far-known sign,
And there lie Hughley people,
 And there lie friends of mine.
Tall in their midst the tower
 Divides the shade and sun,
And the clock strikes the hour
 And tells the time to none.

To south the headstones cluster,
 The sunny mounds lie thick;
The dead are more in muster
 At Hughley than the quick.
North, for a soon-told number,
 Chill graves the sexton delves,
And steeple-shadowed slumber
 The slayers of themselves.

To north, to south, lie parted,
 With Hughley tower above,
The kind, the single-hearted,
 The lads I used to love.
And, south or north, 'tis only
 A choice of friends one knows,
And I shall ne'er be lonely
 Asleep with these or those.

Published in A Shropshire Lad
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