Volume 4 / Act 5 — POEMS 1816-1823.
Reading edition
Which, in the Arabic language, is to the following purport[570]
1.
The Moorish King rides up and down. Through Granada's royal town: From Elvira's gates to those Of Bivarambla on he goes. Woe is me, Alhama![hv][571]
2.
Letters to the Monarch tell How Alhama's city fell: In the fire the scroll he threw, And the messenger he slew. Woe is me, Alhama!
3.
He quits his mule, and mounts his horse, And through the street directs his course; Through the street of Zacatin To the Alhambra spurring in. Woe is me, Alhama!
4.
When the Alhambra walls he gained, On the moment he ordained That the trumpet straight should sound With the silver clarion round. Woe is me, Alhama!
5.
And when the hollow drums of war Beat the loud alarm afar, That the Moors of town and plain Might answer to the martial strain. Woe is me, Alhama!
6.
Then the Moors, by this aware, That bloody Mars recalled them there, One by one, and two by two, To a mighty squadron grew. Woe is me, Alhama!
7.
Out then spake an aged Moor In these words the king before, "Wherefore call on us, oh King? What may mean this gathering?" Woe is me, Alhama!
8.
"Friends! ye have, alas! to know Of a most disastrous blow— That the Christians, stern and bold, Have obtained Alhama's hold." Woe is me, Alhama!
9.
Out then spake old Alfaqui,[572] With his beard so white to see, "Good King! thou art justly served, Good King! this thou hast deserved. Woe is me, Alhama!
10.
"By thee were slain, in evil hour, The Abencerrage, Granada's flower; And strangers were received by thee, Of Cordova the Chivalry. Woe is me, Alhama!
11.
"And for this, oh King! is sent On thee a double chastisement; Thee and thine, thy crown and realm, One last wreck shall overwhelm. Woe is me, Alhama!
12.
"He who holds no laws in awe, He must perish by the law; And Granada must be won, And thyself with her undone." Woe is me, Alhama!
13.
Fire flashed from out the old Moor's eyes, The Monarch's wrath began to rise, Because he answered, and because He spake exceeding well of laws.[573] Woe is me, Alhama!
14.
"There is no law to say such things As may disgust the ear of kings:"— Thus, snorting with his choler, said The Moorish King, and doomed him dead. Woe is me, Alhama!
15.
Moor Alfaqui! Moor Alfaqui![574] Though thy beard so hoary be,[hw] The King hath sent to have thee seized, For Alhama's loss displeased. Woe is me, Alhama!
16.
And to fix thy head upon High Alhambra's loftiest stone; That this for thee should be the law, And others tremble when they saw. Woe is me, Alhama!
17.
"Cavalier, and man of worth! Let these words of mine go forth; Let the Moorish Monarch know, That to him I nothing owe. Woe is me, Alhama!
18.
"But on my soul Alhama weighs, And on my inmost spirit preys; And if the King his land hath lost, Yet others may have lost the most. Woe is me, Alhama!
19.
"Sires have lost their children, wives Their lords, and valiant men their lives! One what best his love might claim Hath lost, another wealth, or fame. Woe is me, Alhama!
20.
"I lost a damsel in that hour, Of all the land the loveliest flower; Doubloons a hundred I would pay, And think her ransom cheap that day." Woe is me, Alhama!
21.
And as these things the old Moor said, They severed from the trunk his head; And to the Alhambra's wall with speed 'Twas carried, as the King decreed. Woe is me, Alhama!
22.
And men and infants therein weep Their loss, so heavy and so deep; Granada's ladies, all she rears Within her walls, burst into tears. Woe is me, Alhama!
23.
And from the windows o'er the walls The sable web of mourning falls; The King weeps as a woman o'er His loss, for it is much and sore. Woe is me, Alhama!
[First published, Childe Harold, Canto IV., 1818.]
SONETTO DI VITTORELLI.[575]
PER MONACA.
Sonetto composto in nome di un genitore, a cui era motta poco innanzi una figlia appena maritata: e diretto al genitore della sacra sposa.
Di due vaghe donzelle, oneste, accorte Lieti e miseri padri il ciel ne feo, Il ciel, die degne di più nobil sorte L' una e l' altra veggendo, ambe chiedeo. La mia fu tolta da veloce morte A le fumanti tede d' Imeneo: La tua, Francesco, in suggellate porte Eterna prigioniera or si rendeo. Ma tu almeno potrai dalla gelosa Irremeabil soglia, ove s' asconde, La sua tenera udir voce pietosa. Io verso un flume d' amarissim' onde, Corro a quel marmo, in cui la figlia or posa: Batto, e ribatto, ma nessun risponde.
[Opere Edite e Postume di J. Vittorelli, Bassano, 1841, p. 294.]
TRANSLATION FROM VITTORELLI.
ON A NUN.
Sonnet composed in the name of a father, whose daughter had recently died shortly after her marriage; and addressed to the father of her who had lately taken the veil.
Of two fair virgins, modest, though admired, Heaven made us happy; and now, wretched sires, Heaven for a nobler doom their worth desires, And gazing upon either, both required. Mine, while the torch of Hymen newly fired Becomes extinguished,—soon—too soon expires; But thine, within the closing grate retired, Eternal captive, to her God aspires. But thou at least from out the jealous door, Which shuts between your never-meeting eyes, May'st hear her sweet and pious voice once more: I to the marble, where my daughter lies, Rush,—the swoln flood of bitterness I pour, And knock, and knock, and knock—but none replies.
[First published, Childe Harold, Canto IV., 1818.]
ON THE BUST OF HELEN BY CANOVA.[576]
In this belovéd marble view Above the works and thoughts of Man, What Nature could but would not do, And Beauty and Canova can! Beyond Imagination's power, Beyond the Bard's defeated art, With Immortality her dower, Behold the Helen of the heart.
November 23, 1816. [First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 61.]
VENICE. A FRAGMENT.[577]
'Tis midnight—but it is not dark Within thy spacious place, St. Mark! The Lights within, the Lamps without, Shine above the revel rout. The brazen Steeds are glittering o'er The holy building's massy door, Glittering with their collars of gold, The goodly work of the days of old— And the wingéd Lion stern and solemn Frowns from the height of his hoary column, Facing the palace in which doth lodge The ocean-city's dreaded Doge. The palace is proud—but near it lies, Divided by the "Bridge of Sighs," The dreary dwelling where the State Enchains the captives of their hate: These—they perish or they pine; But which their doom may none divine: Many have passed that Arch of pain, But none retraced their steps again. It is a princely colonnade! And wrought around a princely place, When that vast edifice displayed Looks with its venerable face Over the far and subject sea, Which makes the fearless isles so free! And 'tis a strange and noble pile, Pillared into many an aisle: Every pillar fair to see, Marble—jasper—and porphyry— The Church of St. Mark—which stands hard by With fretted pinnacles on high, And Cupola and minaret; More like the mosque of orient lands, Than the fanes wherein we pray, And Mary's blesséd likeness stands.—
Venice, December 6, 1816.
SO WE'LL GO NO MORE A-ROVING.[578]
1.
So we'll go no more a-roving So late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright.
2.
For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul wears out the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And Love itself have rest.
3.
Though the night was made for loving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we'll go no more a-roving By the light of the moon.
Feb. 28, 1817. [First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 79.]
[LORD BYRON'S VERSES ON SAM ROGERS.][579]
QUESTION.
Nose and Chin that make a knocker,[hx] Wrinkles that would puzzle Cocker; Mouth that marks the envious Scorner, With a Scorpion in each corner Curling up his tail to sting you,[hy] In the place that most may wring you; Eyes of lead-like hue and gummy, Carcase stolen from some mummy, Bowels—(but they were forgotten, Save the Liver, and that's rotten),10 Skin all sallow, flesh all sodden, Form the Devil would frighten G—d in. Is't a Corpse stuck up for show,[580] Galvanized at times to go? With the Scripture has't connection,[hz] New proof of the Resurrection? Vampire, Ghost, or Goul (sic), what is it? I would walk ten miles to miss it.
ANSWER.
Many passengers arrest one, To demand the same free question.20 Shorter's my reply and franker,— That's the Bard, and Beau, and Banker: Yet, if you could bring about Just to turn him inside out, Satan's self would seem less sooty, And his present aspect—Beauty. Mark that (as he masks the bilious) Air so softly supercilious, Chastened bow, and mock humility, Almost sickened to Servility:30 Hear his tone (which is to talking That which creeping is to walking— Now on all fours, now on tiptoe): Hear the tales he lends his lip to— Little hints of heavy scandals— Every friend by turns he handles: All that women or that men do Glides forth in an inuendo (sic)— Clothed in odds and ends of humour, Herald of each paltry rumour—40 From divorces down to dresses, Woman's frailties, Man's excesses: All that life presents of evil Make for him a constant revel. You're his foe—for that he fears you, And in absence blasts and sears you: You're his friend—for that he hates you, First obliges, and then baits you, Darting on the opportunity When to do it with impunity:50 You are neither—then he'll flatter, Till he finds some trait for satire; Hunts your weak point out, then shows it, Where it injures, to expose it In the mode that's most insidious, Adding every trait that's hideous— From the bile, whose blackening river Rushes through his Stygian liver. Then he thinks himself a lover—[581] Why? I really can't discover,60 In his mind, age, face, or figure; Viper broth might give him vigour: Let him keep the cauldron steady, He the venom has already. For his faults—he has but one; 'Tis but Envy, when all's done: He but pays the pain he suffers, Clipping, like a pair of Snuffers, Light that ought to burn the brighter For this temporary blighter.70 He's the Cancer of his Species, And will eat himself to pieces,— Plague personified and Famine,— Devil, whose delight is damning.[582] For his merits—don't you know 'em?[ia] Once he wrote a pretty Poem.
1818. [First published, Fraser's Magazine, January, 1833, vol. vii. pp. 88-84.]
THE DUEL.[583]
1.
'Tis fifty years, and yet their fray To us might seem but yesterday. Tis fifty years, and three to boot, Since, hand to hand, and foot to foot, And heart to heart, and sword to sword, One of our Ancestors was gored. I've seen the sword that slew him;[584] he, The slain, stood in a like degree To thee, as he, the Slayer, stood (Oh had it been but other blood!) In kin and Chieftainship to me. Thus came the Heritage to thee.
2.
To me the Lands of him who slew Came through a line of yore renowned; For I can boast a race as true To Monarchs crowned, and some discrowned, As ever Britain's Annals knew: For the first Conqueror gave us Ground,[585] And the last Conquered owned the line Which was my mother's, and is mine.
3.
I loved thee—I will not say how, Since things like these are best forgot: Perhaps thou may'st imagine now Who loved thee, and who loved thee not. And thou wert wedded to another,[586] And I at last another wedded: I am a father, thou a mother, To Strangers vowed, with strangers bedded. For land to land, even blood to blood— Since leagued of yore our fathers were— Our manors and our birthright stood; And not unequal had I wooed, If to have wooed thee I could dare. But this I never dared—even yet When naught is left but to forget. I feel that I could only love: To sue was never meant for me, And least of all to sue to thee; For many a bar, and many a feud, Though never told, well understood Rolled like a river wide between— And then there was the Curse of blood, Which even my Heart's can not remove. Alas! how many things have been! Since we were friends; for I alone Feel more for thee than can be shown.
4.
How many things! I loved thee—thou Loved'st me not: another was The Idol of thy virgin vow, And I was, what I am, Alas! And what he is, and what thou art, And what we were, is like the rest: We must endure it as a test, And old Ordeal of the Heart.[587]
Venice, Dec. 29, 1818.
STANZAS TO THE PO.[588]
1.
River, that rollest by the ancient walls, Where dwells the Lady of my love, when she Walks by thy brink, and there perchance recalls A faint and fleeting memory of me:
2.
What if thy deep and ample stream should be A mirror of my heart, where she may read The thousand thoughts I now betray to thee, Wild as thy wave, and headlong as thy speed!
3.
What do I say—a mirror of my heart? Are not thy waters sweeping, dark, and strong? Such as my feelings were and are, thou art; And such as thou art were my passions long.
4.
Time may have somewhat tamed them,—not for ever; Thou overflow'st thy banks, and not for aye Thy bosom overboils, congenial river! Thy floods subside, and mine have sunk away:
5.
But left long wrecks behind, and now again,[ib] Borne in our old unchanged career, we move: Thou tendest wildly onwards to the main, And I—to loving one I should not love.
6.
The current I behold will sweep beneath Her native walls, and murmur at her feet; Her eyes will look on thee, when she shall breathe The twilight air, unharmed by summer's heat.
7.
She will look on thee,—I have looked on thee, Full of that thought: and, from that moment, ne'er Thy waters could I dream of, name, or see, Without the inseparable sigh for her!
8.
Her bright eyes will be imaged in thy stream,— Yes! they will meet the wave I gaze on now: Mine cannot witness, even in a dream, That happy wave repass me in its flow!
9.
The wave that bears my tears returns no more: Will she return by whom that wave shall sweep?— Both tread thy banks, both wander on thy shore, I by thy source, she by the dark-blue deep.[ic]
10.
But that which keepeth us apart is not Distance, nor depth of wave, nor space of earth, But the distraction of a various lot, As various as the climates of our birth.
11.
A stranger loves the Lady of the land,[id] Born far beyond the mountains, but his blood Is all meridian, as if never fanned By the black wind that chills the polar flood.[ie]
12.
My blood is all meridian; were it not, I had not left my clime, nor should I be,[if] In spite of tortures, ne'er to be forgot, A slave again of love,—at least of thee.
13.
'Tis vain to struggle—let me perish young— Live as I lived, and love as I have loved; To dust if I return, from dust I sprung, And then, at least, my heart can ne'er be moved.
June, 1819. [First published, Conversations of Lord Byron, 1824, 4º, pp. 24-26.]
SONNET ON THE NUPTIALS OF THE MARQUIS ANTONIO CAVALLI WITH THE COUNTESS CLELIA RASPONI OF RAVENNA.[589]
A noble Lady of the Italian shore Lovely and young, herself a happy bride, Commands a verse, and will not be denied, From me a wandering Englishman; I tore One sonnet, but invoke the muse once more To hail these gentle hearts which Love has tied, In Youth, Birth, Beauty, genially allied And blest with Virtue's soul, and Fortune's store. A sweeter language, and a luckier bard Were worthier of your hopes, Auspicious Pair! And of the sanctity of Hymen's shrine, But,—since I cannot but obey the Fair, To render your new state your true reward, May your Fate be like Hers, and unlike mine.
Ravenna, July 31, 1819. [From an autograph MS. in the possession of the Lady Dorchester, now for the first time printed.]
SONNET TO THE PRINCE REGENT.[ig]
ON THE REPEAL OF LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD'S FORFEITURE.
To be the father of the fatherless, To stretch the hand from the throne's height, and raise His offspring, who expired in other days To make thy Sire's sway by a kingdom less,—[ih] This is to be a monarch, and repress Envy into unutterable praise. Dismiss thy guard, and trust thee to such traits, For who would lift a hand, except to bless?[ii] Were it not easy, Sir, and is't not sweet To make thyself belovéd? and to be Omnipotent by Mercy's means? for thus Thy Sovereignty would grow but more complete, A despot thou, and yet thy people free,[ij] And by the heart—not hand—enslaving us.
Bologna, August 12, 1819.[590] [First published, Letters and Journals, ii. 234, 235.]
STANZAS.[591]
1.
Could Love for ever Run like a river, And Time's endeavour Be tried in vain— No other pleasure With this could measure; And like a treasure[ik] We'd hug the chain. But since our sighing Ends not in dying, And, formed for flying, Love plumes his wing; Then for this reason Let's love a season; But let that season be only Spring.
2.
When lovers parted Feel broken-hearted, And, all hopes thwarted, Expect to die; A few years older, Ah! how much colder They might behold her For whom they sigh! When linked together, In every weather,[il] They pluck Love's feather From out his wing— He'll stay for ever,[im] But sadly shiver Without his plumage, when past the Spring.[in]
3.
Like Chiefs of Faction, His life is action— A formal paction That curbs his reign, Obscures his glory, Despot no more, he Such territory Quits with disdain. Still, still advancing, With banners glancing, His power enhancing, He must move on— Repose but cloys him, Retreat destroys him, Love brooks not a degraded throne.
4.
Wait not, fond lover! Till years are over, And then recover As from a dream. While each bewailing The other's failing. With wrath and railing, All hideous seem— While first decreasing, Yet not quite ceasing, Wait not till teasing, All passion blight: If once diminished Love's reign is finished— Then part in friendship,—and bid good-night.[io]
5.
So shall Affection To recollection The dear connection Bring back with joy: You had not waited[ip] Till, tired or hated, Your passions sated Began to cloy. Your last embraces Leave no cold traces— The same fond faces As through the past: And eyes, the mirrors Of your sweet errors, Reflect but rapture—not least though last.
6.
True, separations[iq] Ask more than patience; What desperations From such have risen! But yet remaining, What is't but chaining Hearts which, once waning, Beat 'gainst their prison? Time can but cloy love, And use destroy love: The wingéd boy, Love, Is but for boys— You'll find it torture Though sharper, shorter, To wean, and not wear out your joys.
December 1, 1819. [First published, New Monthly Magazine, 1832, vol. xxxv. pp. 310-312.]
ODE TO A LADY WHOSE LOVER WAS KILLED BY A BALL, WHICH AT THE SAME TIME SHIVERED A PORTRAIT NEXT HIS HEART.
Motto.
On peut trouver des femmes qui n'ont jamais eu de galanterie, mais il est rare d'en trouver qui n'en aient jamais eu qu'une.—[Réflexions ... du Duc de la Rochefoucauld, No. lxxiii.]
1.
Lady! in whose heroic port And Beauty, Victor even of Time, And haughty lineaments, appear Much that is awful, more that's dear— Wherever human hearts resort There must have been for thee a Court, And Thou by acclamation Queen, Where never Sovereign yet had been. That eye so soft, and yet severe, Perchance might look on Love as Crime; And yet—regarding thee more near— The traces of an unshed tear Compressed back to the heart, And mellowed Sadness in thine air, Which shows that Love hath once been there, To those who watch thee will disclose More than ten thousand tomes of woes Wrung from the vain Romancer's art. With thee how proudly Love hath dwelt! His full Divinity was felt, Maddening the heart he could not melt, Till Guilt became Sublime; But never yet did Beauty's Zone For him surround a lovelier throne, Than in that bosom once his own: And he the Sun and Thou the Clime Together must have made a Heaven For which the Future would be given.
2.
And thou hast loved—Oh! not in vain! And not as common Mortals love. The Fruit of Fire is Ashes, The Ocean's tempest dashes Wrecks and the dead upon the rocky shore: True Passion must the all-searching changes prove, The Agony of Pleasure and of Pain, Till Nothing but the Bitterness remain; And the Heart's Spectre flitting through the brain Scoffs at the Exorcism which would remove.
3.
And where is He thou lovedst? in the tomb, Where should the happy Lover be! For him could Time unfold a brighter doom, Or offer aught like thee? He in the thickest battle died, Where Death is Pride; And Thou his widow—not his bride, Wer't not more free— Here where all love, till Love is made A bondage or a trade, Here—thou so redolent of Beauty, In whom Caprice had seemed a duty, Thou, who could'st trample and despise The holiest chain of human ties For him, the dear One in thine eyes, Broke it no more. Thy heart was withered to it's Core, It's hopes, it's fears, it's feelings o'er: Thy Blood grew Ice when his was shed, And Thou the Vestal of the Dead.
4.
Thy Lover died, as All Who truly love should die; For such are worthy in the fight to fall Triumphantly. No Cuirass o'er that glowing heart The deadly bullet turned apart: Love had bestowed a richer Mail, Like Thetis on her Son; But hers at last was vain, and thine could fail— The hero's and the lover's race was run. Thy worshipped portrait, thy sweet face, Without that bosom kept it's place As Thou within. Oh! enviously destined Ball! Shivering thine imaged charms and all Those Charms would win: Together pierced, the fatal Stroke hath gored Votary and Shrine, the adoring and the adored. That Heart's last throb was thine, that blood Baptized thine Image in it's flood, And gushing from the fount of Faith O'erflowed with Passion even in Death, Constant to thee as in it's hour Of rapture in the secret bower. Thou too hast kept thy plight full well, As many a baffled Heart can tell.
[From an autograph MS. in the possession of Mr. Murray, now for the first time printed.]
"And Ireland, like a bastinadoed elephant, kneeling to receive the paltry rider."—[Life of Curran, ii. 336.]
1.
Ere the daughter of Brunswick is cold in her grave,[593] And her ashes still float to their home o'er the tide, Lo! George the triumphant speeds over the wave, To the long-cherished Isle which he loved like his—bride.
2.
True, the great of her bright and brief Era are gone, The rain-bow-like Epoch where Freedom could pause For the few little years, out of centuries won, Which betrayed not, or crushed not, or wept not her cause.
3.
True, the chains of the Catholic clank o'er his rags, The Castle still stands, and the Senate's no more, And the Famine which dwelt on her freedomless crags Is extending its steps to her desolate shore.
4.
To her desolate shore—where the emigrant stands For a moment to gaze ere he flies from his hearth; Tears fall on his chain, though it drops from his hands, For the dungeon he quits is the place of his birth.
5.
But he comes! the Messiah of Royalty comes! Like a goodly Leviathan rolled from the waves; Then receive him as best such an advent becomes,[is] With a legion of cooks,[594] and an army of slaves!
6.
He comes in the promise and bloom of threescore, To perform in the pageant the Sovereign's part—[it] But long live the Shamrock, which shadows him o'er! Could the Green in his hat be transferred to his heart!
7.
Could that long-withered spot but be verdant again, And a new spring of noble affections arise— Then might Freedom forgive thee this dance in thy chain, And this shout of thy slavery which saddens the skies.
8.
Is it madness or meanness which clings to thee now? Were he God—as he is but the commonest clay, With scarce fewer wrinkles than sins on his brow— Such servile devotion might shame him away.
9.
Aye, roar in his train![595] let thine orators lash Their fanciful spirits to pamper his pride— Not thus did thy Grattan indignantly flash His soul o'er the freedom implored and denied.
10.
Ever glorious Grattan! the best of the good! So simple in heart, so sublime in the rest! With all which Demosthenes wanted endued, And his rival, or victor, in all he possessed.
11.
Ere Tully arose in the zenith of Rome, Though unequalled, preceded, the task was begun— But Grattan sprung up like a god from the tomb Of ages, the first, last, the saviour, the one![596]
12.
With the skill of an Orpheus to soften the brute; With the fire of Prometheus to kindle mankind; Even Tyranny, listening, sate melted or mute, And Corruption shrunk scorched from the glance of his mind.
13.
But back to our theme! Back to despots and slaves![iu] Feasts furnished by Famine! rejoicings by Pain! True Freedom but welcomes, while Slavery still raves, When a week's Saturnalia hath loosened her chain.
14.
Let the poor squalid splendour thy wreck can afford, (As the bankrupt's profusion his ruin would hide) Gild over the palace, Lo! Erin, thy Lord! Kiss his foot with thy blessing—his blessings denied![iv]
15.
Or if freedom past hope be extorted at last,[iw] If the idol of brass find his feet are of clay, Must what terror or policy wring forth be classed With what monarchs ne'er give, but as wolves yield their prey?
16.
Each brute hath its nature; a King's is to reign,— To reign! in that word see, ye ages, comprised The cause of the curses all annals contain, From Cæsar the dreaded to George the despised!
17.
Wear, Fingal, thy trapping![597] O'Connell, proclaim[ix] His accomplishments! His!!! and thy country convince Half an age's contempt was an error of fame, And that "Hal is the rascaliest, sweetest young prince!"[iy]
18.
Will thy yard of blue riband, poor Fingal, recall The fetters from millions of Catholic limbs? Or, has it not bound thee the fastest of all The slaves, who now hail their betrayer with hymns?
19.
Aye! "Build him a dwelling!" let each give his mite![598] Till, like Babel, the new royal dome hath arisen![iz] Let thy beggars and helots their pittance unite— And a palace bestow for a poor-house and prison!
20.
Spread—spread for Vitellius, the royal repast, Till the gluttonous despot be stuffed to the gorge! And the roar of his drunkards proclaim him at last The Fourth of the fools and oppressors called "George!"
21.
Let the tables be loaded with feasts till they groan! Till they groan like thy people, through ages of woe! Let the wine flow around the old Bacchanal's throne, Like their blood which has flowed, and which yet has to flow.
22.
But let not his name be thine idol alone— On his right hand behold a Sejanus appears! Thine own Castlereagh! let him still be thine own! A wretch never named but with curses and jeers!
23.
Till now, when the Isle which should blush for his birth, Deep, deep as the gore which he shed on her soil, Seems proud of the reptile which crawled from her earth, And for murder repays him with shouts and a smile.[599]
24.
Without one single ray of her genius,—without The fancy, the manhood, the fire of her race— The miscreant who well might plunge Erin in doubt[ja] If she ever gave birth to a being so base.
25.
If she did—let her long-boasted proverb be hushed, Which proclaims that from Erin no reptile can spring— See the cold-blooded Serpent, with venom full flushed, Still warming its folds in the breast of a King![jb]
26.
Shout, drink, feast, and flatter! Oh! Erin, how low Wert thou sunk by misfortune and tyranny, till Thy welcome of tyrants hath plunged thee below The depth of thy deep in a deeper gulf still.
27.
My voice, though but humble, was raised for thy right;[600] My vote, as a freeman's, still voted thee free; This hand, though but feeble, would arm in thy fight,[jc] And this heart, though outworn, had a throb still for thee!
28.
Yes, I loved thee and thine, though thou art not my land;[jd] I have known noble hearts and great souls in thy sons, And I wept with the world, o'er the patriot band Who are gone, but I weep them no longer as once.
29.
For happy are they now reposing afar,— Thy Grattan, thy Curran, thy Sheridan,[601] all Who, for years, were the chiefs in the eloquent war, And redeemed, if they have not retarded, thy fall.
30.
Yes, happy are they in their cold English graves! Their shades cannot start to thy shouts of to-day— Nor the steps of enslavers and chain-kissing slaves[je] Be stamped in the turf o'er their fetterless clay.
31.
Till now I had envied thy sons and their shore, Though their virtues were hunted, their liberties fled;[jf] There was something so warm and sublime in the core Of an Irishman's heart, that I envy—thy dead.[jg]
32.
Or, if aught in my bosom can quench for an hour My contempt for a nation so servile, though sore, Which though trod like the worm will not turn upon power, 'Tis the glory of Grattan, and genius of Moore![jh][602]
Ra. September 16, 1821. [First published, Conversations of Lord Byron, 1824, pp. 331-338.]
STANZAS WRITTEN ON THE ROAD BETWEEN FLORENCE AND PISA.[603]
1.
Oh, talk not to me of a name great in story— The days of our Youth are the days of our glory; And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty.[604]
2.
What are garlands and crowns to the brow that is wrinkled? Tis but as a dead flower with May-dew besprinkled: Then away with all such from the head that is hoary, What care I for the wreaths that can only give glory?
3.
Oh Fame!—if I e'er took delight in thy praises, 'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases, Than to see the bright eyes of the dear One discover, She thought that I was not unworthy to love her.
4.
There chiefly I sought thee, there only I found thee; Her Glance was the best of the rays that surround thee, When it sparkled o'er aught that was bright in my story, I knew it was Love, and I felt it was Glory.
November 6, 1821. [First published, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, 1830, ii. 366, note.]
STANZAS TO A HINDOO AIR.[605]
1.
Oh! my lonely—lonely—lonely—Pillow! Where is my lover? where is my lover? Is it his bark which my dreary dreams discover? Far—far away! and alone along the billow?
2.
Oh! my lonely—lonely—lonely—Pillow! Why must my head ache where his gentle brow lay? How the long night flags lovelessly and slowly, And my head droops over thee like the willow!
3.
Oh! thou, my sad and solitary Pillow! Send me kind dreams to keep my heart from breaking, In return for the tears I shed upon thee waking; Let me not die till he comes back o'er the billow.
4.
Then if thou wilt—no more my lonely Pillow, In one embrace let these arms again enfold him, And then expire of the joy—but to behold him! Oh! my lone bosom!—oh! my lonely Pillow!
[First published, Works of Lord Byron, 1832, xiv. 357.]
TO——[606]
1.
But once I dared to lift my eyes— To lift my eyes to thee; And since that day, beneath the skies, No other sight they see.
2.
In vain sleep shuts them in the night— The night grows day to me; Presenting idly to my sight What still a dream must be.
3.
A fatal dream—for many a bar Divides thy fate from mine; And still my passions wake and war, But peace be still with thine.
[First published, New Monthly Magazine, 1833, vol. 37, p. 308.]
TO THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON.
1.
You have asked for a verse:—the request In a rhymer 'twere strange to deny; But my Hippocrene was but my breast, And my feelings (its fountain) are dry.
2.
Were I now as I was, I had sung What Lawrence has painted so well;[607] But the strain would expire on my tongue, And the theme is too soft for my shell.
3.
I am ashes where once I was fire, And the bard in my bosom is dead; What I loved I now merely admire, And my heart is as grey as my head.
4.
My Life is not dated by years— There are moments which act as a plough, And there is not a furrow appears But is deep in my soul as my brow.
5.
Let the young and the brilliant aspire To sing what I gaze on in vain; For Sorrow has torn from my lyre The string which was worthy the strain.
B. [First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 635, 636.]
ARISTOMENES.[608]
Canto First.
1.
The Gods of old are silent on the shore. Since the great Pan expired, and through the roar Of the Ionian waters broke a dread Voice which proclaimed "the Mighty Pan is dead." How much died with him! false or true—the dream Was beautiful which peopled every stream With more than finny tenants, and adorned The woods and waters with coy nymphs that scorned Pursuing Deities, or in the embrace Of gods brought forth the high heroic race10 Whose names are on the hills and o'er the seas.
Cephalonia, Septr 10th 1823. [From an autograph MS. in the possession of the Lady Dorchester, now for the first time printed.]