If Truth in Hearts That Perish

Portrait of A.E. Housman
A.E. Housman 1859–1936

If truth in hearts that perish Could move the powers on high, I think the love I bear you Should make you not to die.

Sure, sure, if stedfast meaning, If single thought could save, The world might end to-morrow, You should not see the grave.

This long and sure-set liking, This boundless will to please, --Oh, you should live for ever, If there were help in these.

But now, since all is idle, To this lost heart be kind, Ere to a town you journey Where friends are ill to find.

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