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The Life Beyond

By Rupert Brooke

Topics: classic

He wakes, who never thought to wake again,     Who held the end was Death. He opens eyes     Slowly, to one long livid oozing plain     Closed down by the strange eyeless heavens. He lies;     And waits; and once in timeless sick surmise     Through the dead air heaves up an unknown hand,     Like a dry branch. No life is in that land,     Himself not lives, but is a thing that cries;     An unmeaning point upon the mud; a speck     Of moveless horror; an Immortal One     Cleansed of the world, sentient and dead; a fly     Fast-stuck in grey sweat on a corpse's neck.     I thought when love for you died, I should die.     It's dead. Alone, most strangely, I live on.

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"He wakes, who never thought to wake again,..."

This evocative piece by Rupert Brooke, titled "The Life Beyond", represents a masterful exploration of classic. The lines capture a profound emotional resonance... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Rupert Brooke

"He wakes, who never thought to wake again,..." by Rupert Brooke

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Rupert Brooke

About Rupert Brooke

Rupert Brooke (1887–1915) was an English war poet whose sonnets—including "The Soldier" ("If I should die, think only this of me")—idealized the sacrifice of war. He died of sepsis en route to Gallipoli and became a symbol of the lost generation of WWI.

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