XXVII
"Is my team ploughing
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?"
Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.
"Is football playing
Along the river-shore,
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
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?"
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,
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;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.
"Is my team ploughing
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?"
Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.
"Is football playing
Along the river-shore,
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
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?"
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,
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;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.
inviata da Bernart Bartleby - 11/1/2018 - 16:27
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Versi del poeta inglese A. E. Housman, nella sua raccolta “A Shropshire Lad” pubblicata nel 1896
Musica di George Butterworth (1885-1916), compositore inglese, nel suo ciclo per baritono e pianoforte intitolato “Bredon Hill and Other Songs”, 1912. In seguito questa famosa poesia è stata musicata anche da altri compositori, tra cui Ivor Gurney e Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, West Midlands, il cuore dell’Inghilterra rurale, la “terra della perduta felicità”, dove così tante giovani e forti braccia furono strappate agli aratri e agli affetti e costrette ad imbracciare spade e fucili per andare a morire per il mondo nelle guerre di Sua Maestà. Nello specifico, tra i versi de “A Shropshire Lad” sono sempre chiaramente visibili i fantasmi della seconda guerra boera…
Surreale conversazione tra due amici, uno vivo e l’altro morto in guerra. Ma la vita procede ed il primo ha una relazione con colei che fu la fidanzata dello scomparso...
Aggiungo che il compositore, George Butterworth, morì il 5 agosto del 1916 a Pozières, durante la battaglia della Somme, freddato da un cecchino tedesco. Il suo corpo non fu nemmeno mai ritrovato...