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1859–1936

XV

Alfred Edward Housman

Look not in my eyes, for fear They mirror true the sight I see, And there you find your face too clear And love it and be lost like me.

One the long nights through must lie Spent in star-defeated sighs, But why should you as well as I Perish? gaze not in my eyes.

A Grecian lad, as I hear tell, One that many loved in vain, Looked into a forest well And never looked away again.

There, when the turf in springtime flowers, With downward eye and gazes sad, Stands amid the glancing showers A jonquil, not a Grecian lad.

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XV · Alfred Edward Housman · Poetry Cove