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...LENTEN GREETING; TO A LADY by GEORGE SANTAYANA LIGHT [AND LOVE] by FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON INSCRIPTION FOR THE ENTRANCE TO A WOOD by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE MARYLAND BATTALION [AUGUST 27, 1776] by JOHN WILLIAMSON PALMER THE BALLAD OF THE FOXHUNTER by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |