1     Others, I am not the first,
2     Have willed more mischief than they durst:
3     If in the breathless night I too
4     Shiver now, 'tis nothing new.

5     More than I, if truth were told,
6     Have stood and sweated hot and cold,
7     And through their reins in ice and fire
8     Fear contended with desire.

9     Agued once like me were they,
10   But I like them shall win my way
11   Lastly to the bed of mould
12   Where there's neither heat nor cold.

13   But from my grave across my brow
14   Plays no wind of healing now,
15   And fire and ice within me fight
16   Beneath the suffocating night.

• Other poems by Housman ...
• The poet's life and works ...

Composition Date:

not known.

Form:

aabb.