A.E. Housman (1859–1936)
109 Loveliest of Trees
A.E. Housman
From A Shropshire Lad
II
Loveliest of Trees
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten[1],
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
—1896
- Psalm 90:10 “The days of our years are threescore and ten....” A score is 20, so threescore and ten is 70 years. ↵
