A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896.

LII. Far in a western brookland

FAR in a western brookland

That bred me long ago

The poplars stand and tremble

By pools I used to know.

There, in the windless night-time,

The wanderer, marvelling why,

Halts on the bridge to hearken

How soft the poplars sigh.

He hears: no more remembered

In fields where I was known,

Here I lie down in London

And turn to rest alone.

There, by the starlit fences,

The wanderer halts and hears

My soul that lingers sighing

About the glimmering weirs.