'The Hills of Down' (poem) written by C S Lewis

This poem was written at Easter 1915


I will abide

And make my dwelling here

Whatso betide

Since there is more to fear

Out yonder. Though

This world is dear and wan,

I dare not go

To dreaming Avalon,

Nor look what lands 

May lie beyond the last

Strange sunset strands

That glean when day is past

I'the yearning west,

Nor seek some faery town

Nor cloud land, lest

I lose the hills of Down,

The long, low hills of Down.


Not I alone,

If I were gone, must weep;

Themselves would moan

From glen to topmost steep.

Cold, snow pure wells

Sweet with the spring tide's scent,

Forsaken fells

That only I frequent -

And uplands bare

Would call for me above,

Were I not there

To roam the hills I love.

For I alone

Have loved their loneliness;

None else hath known 

Nor seen the goodliness

Of the green hills of Down.

The soft low hills of Down.

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