When first I came here I had hope, Hope for I knew not what. Fast beat My heart at sight of the tall slope Of grass and yews, as if my feet Only by scaling its steps of chalk Would see something no other hill Ever disclosed. And now I walk Down it a last time. Never will My heart beat so again at sight Of any hill although as fair And loftier. For infinite The change, late unperceived, this year. The twelfth, suddenly, shows me plain Hope now, -- not health, nor cheerfulness, Since they can come and go again, As often as one brief hour witnesses, -- Just hope has gone for ever. Perhaps I may love other hills yet more Than this: the future and the maps Hide something I was waiting for. One thing I know, that love with chance And use and time and necessity Will grow, and louder the heart's dance At parting than at meeting be. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ROCK OF CASHEL by AUBREY DE VERE A SPIRITUAL by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR SONNET by ALICE RUTH MOORE DUNBAR-NELSON THE FORERUNNERS by GEORGE HERBERT SONNET: 25 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 35. BALACLAVA by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |