british poem...

[memyselfandhai]

I'm trying to find the name of old (16 or 17 century) British poem. I could've swore it was by Elizabeth Browning, but apparently, it's not.

It's about a friend visiting his old buddy's grave, and he's talking to him. The dead friend is asking how things are going, and they reminisce for a while. The only other thing I can remember about the poem was at the very end, the dead friend asks if he got married, and he replies with something along the lines of "yes, but don't ask who's wife it is (he married the dead friend's wife)."

It's a long shot, but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
HN

[atiguhya padma]

It's a poem by A E Housman

I think it's called Is My Team Ploughing.

AP

[atiguhya padma]

XXVII. Is my team ploughing


‘IS my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?’

Ay, the horses trample, 5
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.

‘Is football playing
Along the river shore, 10
With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?’

Ay, the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper 15
Stands up to keep the goal.

‘Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?’ 20

Ay, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep:
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep.

‘Is my friend hearty, 25
Now I am thin and pine,
And has he found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?’

Yes, lad, I lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose; 30
I cheer a dead man’s sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.

[atiguhya padma]

If you're at all interested in classical music, it has been set to music by George Butterworth, Ivor Gurney and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The first of these, the only one I've heard, is quite beautiful. Both Butterworth and Gurney fought in WWI, Butterworth losing his life at Pozieres in the battle for the Somme.