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A Borsetshire Lad
by Sheila SovietSong

In this contribution to the Fantasy Archers topic of The Archers , Sheila imagined the ghost of John Archer talking to his erstwhile friend Roy, in the form of the A.E. Housman poem "" from "A Shropshire Lad". The entire second half (from "Is my girl happy") is the same as in the original, and remarkably apt.

"Is my sow farrowing,
And does the tractor drive
Along the selfsame furrows
As when I was alive?"

Ay, the piglets trample,
The tractor jangles now,
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.

"Is cricket playing
Upon the Ambridge Green
With lads to chase the wickets
Now I no more am seen?"

Ay, the balls are flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The wickets fly, bold Adam
Jumps up to catch the ball.

"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 manÂ’s sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.

More parodies - from Agatha Christie to Damon Runyon