| Rupert Brooke (1887–1915). Collected Poems. 1916. |
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| II. 1908–1911 |
| 27. The Goddess in the Wood |
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| IN a flowered dell the Lady Venus stood, | |
| Amazed with sorrow. Down the morning one | |
| Far golden horn in the gold of trees and sun | |
| Rang out; and held; and died.… She thought the wood | |
| Grew quieter. Wing, and leaf, and pool of light | 5 |
| Forgot to dance. Dumb lay the unfalling stream; | |
| Life one eternal instant rose in dream | |
| Clear out of time, poised on a golden height.… | |
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| Till a swift terror broke the abrupt hour. | |
| The gold waves purled amidst the green above her; | 10 |
| And a bird sang. With one sharp-taken breath, | |
| By sunlit branches and unshaken flower, | |
| The immortal limbs flashed to the human lover, | |
| And the immortal eyes to look on death. | |
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