Love

The Hill

by Rupert Brooke 1887–1915

From The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke (1915)

LoveTime & Brevity

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.

✦ ✦ ✦

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'.

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/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Rupert Brooke