| Rupert Brooke (1887–1915). Collected Poems. 1916. |
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| I. 1905–1908 |
| 5. Pine-Trees and the Sky: Evening |
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| I’D watched the sorrow of the evening sky, | |
| And smelt the sea, and earth, and the warm clover, | |
| And heard the waves, and the seagull’s mocking cry. | |
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| And in them all was only the old cry, | |
| That song they always sing—“The best is over! | 5 |
| You may remember now, and think, and sigh, | |
| O silly lover!” | |
| And I was tired and sick that all was over, | |
| And because I, | |
| For all my thinking, never could recover | 10 |
| One moment of the good hours that were over. | |
| And I was sorry and sick, and wished to die. | |
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| Then from the sad west turning wearily, | |
| I saw the pines against the white north sky, | |
| Very beautiful, and still, and bending over | 15 |
| Their sharp black heads against a quiet sky. | |
| And there was peace in them; and I | |
| Was happy, and forgot to play the lover, | |
| And laughed, and did no longer wish to die; | |
| Being glad of you, O pine-trees and the sky! | 20 |
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