Poem by Rupert Chawner Brooke

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.

1. The Great Lover
2. Fragment on Painters
3. The Jolly Company
4. Song (The way of love was thus)
5. Song (All suddenly the wind comes soft)

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