Poetry  |  Rupert Brooke  |  South Seas  |  Chapter 12

South Seas — Chapter 12


Not with vain tears, when we're beyond the sun,
   We'll beat on the substantial doors, nor tread
   Those dusty high-roads of the aimless dead
Plaintive for Earth; but rather turn and run
Down some close-covered by-way of the air,
   Some low sweet alley between wind and wind,
   Stoop under faint gleams, thread the shadows, find
Some whispering ghost-forgotten nook, and there

Spend in pure converse our eternal day;
   Think each in each, immediately wise;
Learn all we lacked before; hear, know, and say
   What this tumultuous body now denies;
And feel, who have laid our groping hands away;
   And see, no longer blinded by our eyes.