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To an Athlete Dying Young

By A.E Housman

This poem is popular, memorable and well crafted, describes the death of a youthful man who is celebrated for his glorious passing and remembered for his loss.

To an Athlete Dying Young Poem Lyrics

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears.

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl’s.

Poem TitleTo an Athlete Dying Young Poem
Poem Writer / AuthorA.E Housman
To an Athlete Dying Young Lyrics PrintableLYRICS PDF (for printing) LYRICS WORD DOC