Love
The Hill
From The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke (1915)
Breathless, we flung us on the windy hill,
Laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass.
You said, "Through glory and ecstasy we pass;
Wind, sun, and earth remain, the birds sing still,
When we are old, are old. . . ." "And when we die
All's over that is ours; and life burns on
Through other lovers, other lips," said I,
-- "Heart of my heart, our heaven is now, is won!"
"We are Earth's best, that learnt her lesson here.
Life is our cry. We have kept the faith!" we said;
"We shall go down with unreluctant tread
Rose-crowned into the darkness!" . . . Proud we were,
And laughed, that had such brave true things to say.
-- And then you suddenly cried, and turned away.
Codex Note
Lovers on a windy hill boast that their love will outlast age and death; the sonnet ends when the woman 'suddenly cried, and turned away'.
Cite this poem
MLA
Brooke, Rupert. “The Hill.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/brooke/26/.
Chicago
Brooke, Rupert. “The Hill.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/brooke/26/.
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