A Shropshire Lad - XLVII - The Carpenters Son

by A. E. Housman

    "Here the hangman stops his cart:
    Now the best of friends must part.
    Fare you well, for ill fare I:
    Live, lads, and I will die."

    "Oh, at home had I but stayed
    'Prenticed to my father's trade,
    Had I stuck to plane and adze,
    I had not been lost, my lads."

    "Then I might have built perhaps
    Gallows-trees for other chaps,
    Never dangled on my own,
    Had I but left ill alone."

    "Now, you see, they hang me high,
    And the people passing by
    Stop to shake their fists and curse;
    So 'tis come from ill to worse."

    "Here hang I, and right and left
    Two poor fellows hang for theft:
    All the same's the luck we prove,
    Though the midmost hangs for love."

    "Comrades all, that stand and gaze,
    Walk henceforth in other ways;
    See my neck and save your own:
    Comrades all, leave ill alone."

    "Make some day a decent end,
    Shrewder fellows than your friend.
    Fare you well, for ill fare I:
    Live, lads, and I will die."