Shot? so quick, so clean an ending? <br />Oh that was right, lad, that was brave: <br />Yours was not an ill for mending, <br />'Twas best to take it to the grave. <br /> <br />Oh you had forethought, you could reason, <br />And saw your road and where it led, <br />And early wise and brave in season <br />Put the pistol to your head. <br /> <br />Oh soon, and better so than later <br />After long disgrace and scorn, <br />You shot dead the household traitor, <br />The soul that should not have been born. <br /> <br />Right you guessed the rising morrow <br />And scorned to tread the mire you must: <br />Dust's your wages, son of sorrow, <br />But men may come to worse than dust. <br /> <br />Souls undone, undoing others,-- <br />Long time since the tale began. <br />You would not live to wrong your brothers: <br />Oh lad, you died as fits a man. <br /> <br />Now to your grave shall friend and stranger <br />With ruth and some with envy come: <br />Undishonoured, clear of danger, <br />Clean of guilt, pass hence and home. <br /> <br />Turn safe to rest, no dreams, no waking; <br />And here, man, here's the wreath I've made: <br />'Tis not a gift that's worth the taking, <br />But wear it and it will not fade.<br /><br />Alfred Edward Housman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/shot-so-quick-so-clean-an-ending/
