*Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries*
These, in the day when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling,
And took their wages, and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.
Absolutely. I remember reading this when I was 14. Know exactly where.
Mercenaries must have done a better job back then tho.
On 10/29/07, MC Ward <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I've been surprised by how many people feel they've
> outgrown Housman, so I took a little while this
> morning to renew my own loving acquaintance with his
> "cherries hung with snow," his "blood's a rover; /
> Breath's a ware that will not keep," his hilarious
> paeon to alcoholism, "Terence, This is Stupid
> Stuff"--and found myself succumbing to him all over
> again.
>
> In fact, beyond some mild embarrassment over my
> continuing love for Edna St. Vincent Millay, I cannot
> think of a single poet or work I've outgrown apart
> from Robert Louis Stevenson's _Child's Garden of
> Verses_. And even there, I rememeber "The Swing" as if
> I were still going on eight, and higher.
>
> Candice
>
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