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The works of Lord Byron

A new, revised and enlarged edition, with illustrations. Edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge and R. E. Prothero
Byron, George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)

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Vol. I. HOURS OF IDLENESS AND OTHER EARLY POEMS.
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Vol. II.
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Vol. III.
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POEMS 1809–1813.
  
THE GIAOUR:
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THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS.
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THE CORSAIR:
  
ODE TO NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.
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LARA:
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HEBREW MELODIES.
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POEMS 1814–1816.
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THE SIEGE OF CORINTH.
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PARISINA.
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POEMS OF THE SEPARATION.
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Vol. IV.
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Vol. V.
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[volume]

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49

THE CHAIN I GAVE.

[_]

FROM THE TURKISH.

1

The chain I gave was fair to view,
The lute I added sweet in sound;
The heart that offered both was true,
And ill deserved the fate it found.

2

These gifts were charmed by secret spell,
Thy truth in absence to divine;
And they have done their duty well,—
Alas! they could not teach thee thine.

3

That chain was firm in every link,
But not to bear a stranger's touch;
That lute was sweet—till thou couldst think
In other hands its notes were such.

4

Let him who from thy neck unbound
The chain which shivered in his grasp,
Who saw that lute refuse to sound,
Restring the chords, renew the clasp.

5

When thou wert changed, they altered too;
The chain is broke, the music mute,
'Tis past—to them and thee adieu—
False heart, frail chain, and silent lute.
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