To an athlete dying young
by a. e. housman (excerpt)

the time you won your town the race
we chaired you through the market-place;
man and boy stood cheering by,
and home we brought you shoulder-high.

to-day, the road all runners come,
shoulder-high we bring you home,
and set you at your threshold down,
townsman of a stiller town.

. .

now you will not swell the rout
of lads that wore their honours out,
runners whom renown outran
and the name died before the man.

so set, before the echoes fade,
the fleet foot on the sill of shade,
and hold to the low lintel up
the still-defended challenge-cup.

and round that early-laurelled head
will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
and find unwithered on its curls
the garland briefer than a girl's.

in the poem, the phrase "sill of shade" refers the narraator of this poem is

1. 2.
a. the edge of time a. the athlete's father
b. the edge of a hill b. a reflective onlooker
c. the loss of life c. the athlete's lover
d. a window sill d. a young athlete