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The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke

by Rupert Brooke

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1908-1911

Sonnet: “Oh! Death Will Find Me, Long Before I Tire”

Oh! Death will find me, long before I tire
 Of watching you; and swing me suddenly
Into the shade and loneliness and mire
 Of the last land! There, waiting patiently,

One day, I think, I’ll feel a cool wind blowing,
 See a slow light across the Stygian tide,
And hear the Dead about me stir, unknowing,
 And tremble. And I shall know that you have died,

And watch you, a broad-browed and smiling dream,
 Pass, light as ever, through the lightless host,
Quietly ponder, start, and sway, and gleam —
 Most individual and bewildering ghost! —

And turn, and toss your brown delightful head
Amusedly, among the ancient Dead.

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