Alfred Edward Housman: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

As through the wild green hills of Wyre

Alfred Edward Housman

“As through the wild green hills of Wyre” as printed in A Shropshire Lad (1896).

Alfred Edward Housman: Collected Lyrics Text 4 1896 · historical text
Public domainSong lyricsVictorian song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from A Shropshire Lad, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

As through the wild green hills of Wyre

The train ran, changing sky and shire,

And far behind, a fading crest,

Low in the forsaken west

Sank the high-reared head of Clee,

My hand lay empty on my knee.

Aching on my knee it lay:

That morning half a shire away

So many an honest fellow's fist

Had wellnigh wrung it from the wrist.

Hand, said I, since now we part

From fields and men we know by heart,

For strangers' faces, strangers' lands,—

Hand, you have held true fellows' hands.

Be clean then; rot before you do

A thing they 'd not believe of you.

You and I must keep from shame

In London streets the Shropshire name;

On banks of Thames they must not say

Severn breeds worse men than they;

And friends abroad must bear in mind

Friends at home they leave behind.

Oh, I shall be stiff and cold

When I forget you, hearts of gold;

The land where I shall mind you not

Is the land where all 's forgot.

And if my foot returns no more

To Teme nor Corve nor Severn shore,

Luck, my lads, be with you still

By falling stream and standing hill,

By chiming tower and whispering tree,

Men that made a man of me.

About your work in town and farm

Still you 'll keep my head from harm,

Still you 'll help me, hands that gave

A grasp to friend me to the grave.

Credits

Written by Alfred Edward Housman

Words by Alfred Edward Housman. Historical text published in A Shropshire Lad (1896); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

A Shropshire Lad (1896), “As through the wild green hills of Wyre”

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) died more than 89 years ago; his works entered the public domain in life-plus-70 jurisdictions in 2007, and the 1896 first edition is in the public domain in the United States. Entries credited to other hands are held unless their author died more than 70 years ago.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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