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."

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936) , no title, from A Shropshire Lad, no. 24, no. 24, published 1896

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Robin Field (1935-) , "Say, lad, have you things to do?", 1960 [medium voice and piano], from When I was one and twenty, no. ?
by Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) , "Say, lad, have you things to do?", published 1924 [baritone and piano], from Ludlow Town, no. 3.
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878-1937) , "Say, lad, have you things to do?", published 1911, from Songs of a Shropshire Lad, no. 4.
by David Van Vactor (1906-) , "Say, lad, have you things to do?", published 1968. [SATB chorus a cappella]

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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