English Poetry. Rupert Chawner Brooke. Song (Oh! Love, they said). Руперт Брук.

Rupert Chawner Brooke (Руперт Брук)

Song (Oh! Love, they said)

"Oh! Love," they said, "is King of Kings,
 And Triumph is his crown.
Earth fades in flame before his wings,
 And Sun and Moon bow down." --
But that, I knew, would never do;
 And Heaven is all too high.
So whenever I meet a Queen, I said,
 I will not catch her eye.

"Oh! Love," they said, and "Love," they said,
 "The gift of Love is this;
A crown of thorns about thy head,
 And vinegar to thy kiss!" --
But Tragedy is not for me;
 And I'm content to be gay.
So whenever I spied a Tragic Lady,
 I went another way.

And so I never feared to see
 You wander down the street,
Or come across the fields to me
 On ordinary feet.
For what they'd never told me of,
 And what I never knew;
It was that all the time, my love,
 Love would be merely you.

Rupert Chawner Brooke’s other poems:

1. The One Before the Last
2. Song (The way of love was thus)
3. The Way That Lovers Use
4. The True Beatitude
5. The Funeral of Youth: Threnody

To the dedicated English version of this website

---