Edward Shanks imagines a future after human life has faded. The sun will still brighten the bushes and trees, the hills will keep their beauty, and the valleys will return to summer as if nothing has changed. There is no anger or fear in this, only a quiet, wistful acceptance. The speaker feels small next to nature’s endurance, and the repetition of “when we are gone” adds a soft, sad rhythm, like a refrain. The final line brings the thought down to earth: our bodies become part of the soil, feeding the very green things that continue after us. That image makes death feel less like an end and more like a quiet returning. The mood is elegiac and peaceful, full of wonder at how easily the world outlasts us.
Continuity — Summary
Long after we have ceased to be The sun will light in bush and tree And shine unchanged ; the high turf hill Shall stand up in beauty still ; And all the valleys that we knew Put on again the summer's hue, When we are gone, when we are gone, And are what green things feed upon.