Say, lad, have you things to do?

Say, lad, have you things to do?
   Quick then, while your day’s at prime
Quick, and if ’tis work for two,
   Here am I, man: now’s your time

Send me now, and I shall go;
   Call me, I shall hear you call;
Use me ere they lay me low
   Where a man’s no use at all;

Ere the wholesome flesh decay,
   And the willing nerve be numb,
And the lips lack breath to say,
   ‘No, my lad, I cannot come.’

A.E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad
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