Last Poems (Housman)/Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries
XXXVII
Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries
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.
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.
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.