A E Housman is the perfect poet for a young man; his poems are all about rejection, unrequited love, despair and sacrifice. It’s no wonder that I liked him so much when I was a teenager. He is often quoted on Remembrance Day for his verses about young men going to war and not returning.

Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung

Life to be sure
Is nothing much to lose
But young men think it is
And we were young

I read those lines and think of Frank Taylor. I’m also reminded of my English teacher who used to bound into the class reciting a verse which he said was Housman’s:

What! Still alive at 22
A fine upstanding chap like you
Like as not you won’t be glad
When they come to hang you lad.

He was teasing us; it’s a parody. I’d like to know who wrote it.

”The Mad Gardener’s Song” is such a wonderful title that I can’t resist quoting four of the verses from one of my favourite nonsense poems.

He though he saw an Elephant,
That practiced on a fife:
He looked again, and found it was
A letter from his wife.
‘At length I realise’, he said,
‘The bitterness of Life!’

He thought he saw a Banker’s Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopoptamus.
‘If this should stay to dine’, he said,
‘There won’t be much for us!’

He thought he saw a Kangaroo
The worked a coffee-mill:
He looked again, and found it was
A Vegetable-Pill.
‘Were I to swallow this,’ he said,
‘I should be very ill!’

He thought he saw a Garden-Door
That opened with a key:
He looked again, and found it was
A Double rule of Three:
‘And all its mystery,’ he said,
‘Is clear as day to me!’

Lewis Carroll