The Rain, it Streams on Stone and Hillock (by A.E. Housman).

 

This poem is found in Housman’s

Last Poems, it is number 18:   

The rain, it streams on stone and hillock,

    The boot clings to the clay.

Since all is done that’s due and right

Let’s home; and now, my land, good-night,

    For I must turn away.

Good-night, my lad, for nought’s eternal;

    No league of ours, for sure.

To-morrow I shall miss you less,

And ache of heart and heaviness

    Are things that time should cure.

Over the hill the highway marches

    And what’s beyond is wide:

Oh soon enough will pine to nought

Remembrance and the faithful thought

    That sits the grave beside.

The skies, they are not always raining

    Nor grey the twelvemonth through;

And I shall meet good days and mirth,

And range the lovely lands of earth

   With friends no worse than you.

But  oh, my man, the house is fallen

   That none can build again;

My man, how full of joy and woe

Your mother bore you years ago

   To-night to lie in the rain.

The poem with the stressed

syllables underlined:

The rain, it streams on stone and hillock,

    The boot clings to the clay.

Since all is done that’s due and right

Let’s home; and now, my lad, good-night,

    For I must turn away.

Good-night, my lad, for nought’s eternal;

    No league of ours, for sure.

To-morrow I shall miss you less,

And ache of heart and heaviness

    Are things that time should cure.

Over the hill the highway marches

    And what’s beyond is wide:

Oh soon enough will pine to nought

Remembrance and the faithful thought

    That sits the grave beside.

The skies, they are not always raining

    Nor grey the twelvemonth through;

And I shall meet good days and mirth,

And range the lovely lands of earth

   With friends no worse than you.

But oh, my man, the house is fallen

   That none can build again;

My man, how full of joy and woe

Your mother bore you years ago

   To-night to lie in the rain.

Summary of the poem:

The poem opens with the speaker

standing by the grave of a friend

in the rain, paying his respects.

He says good-bye to him and

thinks that life will and must

go on, and he will forget him.

In the last verse, however, it is

clear he still has trouble accept-

ing the finality and suddenness

of his death.

Points of interest:

This is poem XVIII of Housman's

Last Poems. Interestingly, "nought"

mentioned twice. It is quite

characteristic of poets to have

favourite words to rhymes, which

brings into question the usefulness

of rhyming dictionaries. This is a

The first lines of every verse ends

with three unstressed syllables.

© C.A. MacLennan 2024