In a lane near Abdon Burf

A couple of days ago I was walking along a narrow lane near Abdon when I met a Shropshire Star van coming the other way. I stepped on to the verge, the driver slowed and waved, and all was well.

But it did strike me that, if we had both been thinking of other things, this could have been a bitterly ironic way for me to die.

A. E. Housman adds:

Wenlock Edge was umbered,
And bright was Abdon Burf,
And warm between them slumbered
The smooth green miles of turf;