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Rupert Brooke - And Love Has Changed To Kindliness
Work rating: Medium

When love has changed to kindliness,
    Oh, love, our hungry lips, that press
    So tight that Time`s an old god`s dream
    Nodding in heaven, and whisper stuff
    Seven million years were not enough
    To think on after, make it seem
    Less than the breath of children playing,
    A blasphemy scarce worth the saying,
    A sorry jest, "When love has grown
    To kindliness, to kindliness!" . . .
    And yet, the best that either`s known
    Will change, and wither, and be less,
    At last, than comfort, or its own
    Remembrance. And when some caress
    Tendered in habit (once a flame
    All heaven sang out to) wakes the shame
    Unworded, in the steady eyes
    We`ll have, that day, what shall we do?
    Being so noble, kill the two
    Who`ve reached their second-best? Being wise,
    Break cleanly off, and get away.
    Follow down other windier skies
    New lures, alone? Or shall we stay,
    Since this is all we`ve known, content
    In the lean twilight of such day,
    And not remember, not lament?
    That time when all is over, and
    Hand never flinches, brushing hand;
    And blood lies quiet, for all you`re near;
    And it`s but spoken words we hear,
    Where trumpets sang; when the mere skies
    Are stranger and nobler than your eyes;
    And flesh is flesh, was flame before;
    And infinite hungers leap no more
    In the chance swaying of your dress;
    And love has changed to kindliness.
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