Bulchevy's Book of English Verse Part 109

Caroline Southey. 1787-1854

596. To Death

COME not in terrors clad, to claim An unresisting prey: Come like an evening shadow, Death!

So stealthily, so silently!

And shut mine eyes, and steal my breath; Then willingly, O willingly, With thee I'll go away!

What need to clutch with iron grasp What gentlest touch may take?

What need with aspect dark to scare, So awfully, so terribly, The weary soul would hardly care, Call'd quietly, call'd tenderly, From thy dread power to break?

'Tis not as when thou markest out The young, the blest, the gay, The loved, the loving--they who dream So happily, so hopefully; Then harsh thy kindest call may seem, And shrinkingly, reluctantly, The summon'd may obey.

But I have drunk enough of life-- The cup a.s.sign'd to me Dash'd with a little sweet at best, So scantily, so scantily-- To know full well that all the rest More bitterly, more bitterly, Drugg'd to the last will be.

And I may live to pain some heart That kindly cares for me: To pain, but not to bless. O Death!

Come quietly--come lovingly-- And shut mine eyes, and steal my breath; Then willingly, O willingly, I'll go away with thee!

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. 1788-1824

597. When we Two parted

WHEN we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning Sunk chill on my brow-- It felt like the warning Of what I feel now.

Thy vows are all broken, And light is thy fame: I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame.

They name thee before me, A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o'er me-- Why wert thou so dear?

They know not I knew thee, Who knew thee too well: Long, long shall I rue thee, Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met-- In silence I grieve, That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive.

If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee?

With silence and tears.

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. 1788-1824

598. For Music

THERE be none of Beauty's daughters With a magic like thee; And like music on the waters Is thy sweet voice to me: When, as if its sound were causing The charmed ocean's pausing, The waves lie still and gleaming, And the lull'd winds seem dreaming:

And the midnight moon is weaving Her bright chain o'er the deep; Whose breast is gently heaving, As an infant's asleep: So the spirit bows before thee, To listen and adore thee; With a full but soft emotion, Like the swell of Summer's ocean.

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. 1788-1824

599. We'll go no more a-roving

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.

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.

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.

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. 1788-1824

600. She walks in Beauty

SHE walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that 's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow'd to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impair'd the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o'er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. 1788-1824

601. The Isles of Greece

THE isles of Greece! the isles of Greece Where burning Sappho loved and sung, Where grew the arts of war and peace, Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!

Eternal summer gilds them yet, But all, except their sun, is set.

The Scian and the Teian muse, The hero's harp, the lover's lute, Have found the fame your sh.o.r.es refuse: Their place of birth alone is mute To sounds which echo further west Than your sires' 'Islands of the Blest.

The mountains look on Marathon-- And Marathon looks on the sea; And musing there an hour alone, I dream'd that Greece might still be free; For standing on the Persians' grave, I could not deem myself a slave.

A king sate on the rocky brow Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis; And s.h.i.+ps, by thousands, lay below, And men in nations;--all were his!

He counted them at break of day-- And when the sun set, where were they?

And where are they? and where art thou, My country? On thy voiceless sh.o.r.e The heroic lay is tuneless now-- The heroic bosom beats no more!

And must thy lyre, so long divine, Degenerate into hands like mine?

'Tis something in the dearth of fame, Though link'd among a fetter'd race, To feel at least a patriot's shame, Even as I sing, suffuse my face; For what is left the poet here?

For Greeks a blush--for Greece a tear.

Must we but weep o'er days more blest?

Must we but blush?--Our fathers bled.

Earth! render back from out thy breast A remnant of our Spartan dead!

Of the three hundred grant but three, To make a new Thermopylae!

What, silent still? and silent all?

Ah! no;--the voices of the dead Sound like a distant torrent's fall, And answer, 'Let one living head, But one, arise,--we come, we come!'

'Tis but the living who are dumb.

In vain--in vain: strike other chords; Fill high the cup with Samian wine!

Leave battles to the Turkish hordes, And shed the blood of Scio's vine: Hark! rising to the ign.o.ble call-- How answers each bold Baccha.n.a.l!

You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet; Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?