When First + 

When first I came here I had hope, + 

Hope for I knew not what. Fast beat + 

My heart at sight of the tall slope + 

Or grass and yews, as if my feet + 

Only by scaling its steps of chalk + 

Would see something no other hill + 

Ever disclosed. And now I walk + 

Down it the last time. Never will + 

My heart beat so again at sight + 

Of any hill although as fair + 

And loftier. For infinite + 

The change, late unperceived, this year, + 

The twelfth, suddenly, shows me plain. + 

Hope now⁠—not health, nor cheerfulness, + 

Since they can come and go again, + 

As often one brief hour witnesses⁠— + 

Just hope has gone for ever. Perhaps + 

I may love other hills yet more + 

Than this: the future and the maps + 

Hide something I was waiting for. + 

One thing I know, that love with chance + 

And use and time and necessity + 

Will grow, and louder the heart’s dance + 

At parting than at meeting be. + 