{"id":23139,"date":"2013-11-19T06:30:22","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=23139"},"modified":"2013-10-30T20:50:23","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T07:50:23","slug":"tuesday-poem-the-great-lover-by-rupert-brooke-1887-1915","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2013\/11\/19\/tuesday-poem-the-great-lover-by-rupert-brooke-1887-1915\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Poem: “The Great Lover” by Rupert Brooke, 1887-1915"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Great Lover<\/strong><\/h3>\n

by Rupert Brooke<\/p>\n

I have been so great a lover: filled my days
\nSo proudly with the splendour of Love’s praise,
\nThe pain, the calm, and the astonishment,
\nDesire illimitable, and still content,
\nAnd all dear names men use, to cheat despair,
\nFor the perplexed and viewless streams that bear
\nOur hearts at random down the dark of life.
\nNow, ere the unthinking silence on that strife
\nSteals down, I would cheat drowsy Death so far,
\nMy night shall be remembered for a star
\nThat outshone all the suns of all men’s days.
\nShall I not crown them with immortal praise
\nWhom I have loved, who have given me, dared with me
\nHigh secrets, and in darkness knelt to see
\nThe inenarrable godhead of delight?
\nLove is a flame:–we have beaconed the world’s night.
\nA city:–and we have built it, these and I.
\nAn emperor:–we have taught the world to die.
\nSo, for their sakes I loved, ere I go hence,
\nAnd the high cause of Love’s magnificence,
\nAnd to keep loyalties young, I’ll write those names
\nGolden for ever, eagles, crying flames,
\nAnd set them as a banner, that men may know,
\nTo dare the generations, burn, and blow
\nOut on the wind of Time, shining and streaming . . . .<\/p>\n

These I have loved:
\n……………..<\/span>White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
\nRinged with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;
\nWet roofs, beneath the lamp-light; the strong crust
\nOf friendly bread; and many-tasting food;
\nRainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;
\nAnd radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;
\nAnd flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,
\nDreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;
\nThen, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
\nSmooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
\nOf blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is
\nShining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen
\nUnpassioned beauty of a great machine;
\nThe benison of hot water; furs to touch;
\nThe good smell of old clothes; and other such–
\nThe comfortable smell of friendly fingers,
\nHair’s fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers
\nAbout dead leaves and last year’s ferns. . . .
\n………………………………………………..<\/span>Dear names,
\nAnd thousand other throng to me! Royal flames;
\nSweet water’s dimpling laugh from tap or spring;
\nHoles in the ground; and voices that do sing;
\nVoices in laughter, too; and body’s pain,
\nSoon turned to peace; and the deep-panting train;
\nFirm sands; the little dulling edge of foam
\nThat browns and dwindles as the wave goes home;
\nAnd washen stones, gay for an hour; the cold
\nGraveness of iron; moist black earthen mould;
\nSleep; and high places; footprints in the dew;
\nAnd oaks; and brown horse-chestnuts, glossy-new;
\nAnd new-peeled sticks; and shining pools on grass;–
\nAll these have been my loves. And these shall pass,
\nWhatever passes not, in the great hour,
\nNor all my passion, all my prayers, have power
\nTo hold them with me through the gate of Death.
\nThey’ll play deserter, turn with the traitor breath,
\nBreak the high bond we made, and sell Love’s trust
\nAnd sacramented covenant to the dust.
\n— Oh, never a doubt but, somewhere, I shall wake,
\nAnd give what’s left of love again, and make
\nNew friends, now strangers. . . .<\/p>\n

……………………..<\/span>But the best I’ve known
\nStays here, and changes, breaks, grows old, is blown
\nAbout the winds of the world, and fades from brains
\nOf living men, and dies.
\n……………………..<\/span>Nothing remains.<\/p>\n

O dear my loves, O faithless, once again
\nThis one last gift I give: that after men
\nShall know, and later lovers, far-removed,
\nPraise you, ‘All these were lovely’; say, ‘He loved.’<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Click here to find out more about Rupert Brooke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here<\/a> or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great Lover by Rupert Brooke I have been so great a lover: filled my days So proudly with the splendour of Love’s praise, The pain, the calm, and the astonishment, Desire illimitable, and still content, And all dear names men use, to cheat despair, For the perplexed and viewless streams that bear Our hearts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23139"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23183,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139\/revisions\/23183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}