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HILLS, by                    
First Line: You have not lived until you know a hill
Last Line: That strange tree-god that watches over all.
Subject(s): Mountains; Trees; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


You have not lived until you know a hill
That stands above a river. Elms are there
And maples for September; and the pine,
That strange tree-god that never sleeps at all.

Dead hills there are over the wide land
Whose rivers have forsaken them to winds,
Whose rivers have forsaken them and gone
Silently forever into the sea.

Young hills there are in new and treeless lands
Whose rivers ride like furies on their backs,
Cloud-born in tumult, raging for a day.
Leaving the young hills desolate and torn.

But there are hills whose rivers tend them well
And quench their thirst beneath the summer sun;
These are the hills that laugh with early buds
And chant the ancient epics of the trees.

You have not lived until you love a hill
That stands above a river. Oaks are there
And sycamores for moonlight; and the pine,
That strange tree-god that watches over all.





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