The vane on Hughley steeple <br />Veers bright, a far-known sign, <br />And there lie Hughley people <br />And there lie friends of mine. <br />Tall in their midst the tower <br />Divides the shade and sun, <br />And the clock strikes the hour <br />And tells the time to none. <br /> <br />To south the headstones cluster, <br />The sunny mounds lie thick; <br />The dead are more in muster <br />At Hughley than the quick. <br />North, for a soon-told number, <br />Chill graves the sexton delves, <br />And steeple-shadowed slumber <br />The slayers of themselves. <br /> <br />To north, to south, lie parted, <br />With Hughley tower above, <br />The kind, the single-hearted, <br />The lads I used to love. <br />And, south or north, 'tis only <br />A choice of friends one knows, <br />And I shall ne'er be lonely <br />Asleep with these or those.<br /><br />Alfred Edward Housman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hughley-steeple/
