The works of Lord Byron A new, revised and enlarged edition, with illustrations. Edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge and R. E. Prothero |
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TO THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. |
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 | The works of Lord Byron |  |
565
TO THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON.
1
You have asked for a verse:—the requestIn a rhymer 'twere strange to deny;
But my Hippoctene was but my breast,
And my feelings (its fountain) are dry.
2
Were I now as I was, I had sungWhat Lawrence has painted so well;
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 aspireTo sing what I gaze on in vain;
For Sorrow has torn from my lyre
The string which was worthy the strain.
B.
| The works of Lord Byron | |