February 2013 |
Unpublished A. E. Housman Poem Coming Up to Auction

Housman never recovered from the blow.
The poem - faintly written in pencil with clear attempts to erase it - passed into the keeping of Housman's brother after his death in 1936. Housman's brother debated destroying the poem, but was advised to keep it by Alfred Pollard, a friend of Housman's from his Oxford days.
The poem is estimated by Bonham's to reach £25,000 at auction.
"Oh were he and I together"
Oh were he and I together
Shipmates on the fleeted main,
Sailing through the summer weather
To the spoil of France or Spain.
Oh were he and I together,
Locking hands and taking leave,
Low upon the trampled heather
In the battle lost at eve.
Now are he and I asunder
And asunder to remain;
Kingdoms are for others' plunder,
And content for other slain.
