A Shropshire Lad – XX

by A. E. Housman

    Oh fair enough are sky and plain,
    But I know fairer far:
    Those are as beautiful again
    That in the water are;

    The pools and rivers wash so clean
    The trees and clouds and air,
    The like on earth was never seen,
    And oh that I were there.

    These are the thoughts I often think
    As I stand gazing down
    In act upon the cressy brink
    To strip and dive and drown;

    But in the golden-sanded brooks
    And azure meres I spy
    A silly lad that longs and looks
    And wishes he were I.