New thoughts of life, for it seem'd full of soul,
480 She had so much, earth could not claim the whole.
* $ *
3. A violent, hot, dust-laden desert wind. note]. 4. This is no very uncommon effect of the violence 5. I.e., though she was ashen pale, of conflicting and different passions [Byron's
.
101 DO N JUAN , CANT O 4 / 73 3 545550 Twelve days and nights she wither'd thus; at last, Without a groan, or sigh, or glance, to show A parting pang, the spirit from her past:? And they who watch'd her nearest could not know The very instant, till the change that cast Her sweet face into shadow, dull and slow, Glazed o'er her eyes?the beautiful, the black? Oh! to possess such lustre?and then lack! passed 55556070 She died, but not alone; she held within A second principle of life, which might Have dawn'd a fair and sinless child of sin; But closed its little being without light, And went down to the grave unborn, wherein Blossom and bough lie wither'd with one blight; In vain the dews of Heaven descend above The bleeding flower and blasted fruit of love. 56571 Thus lived?thus died she; never more on her Shall sorrow light, or shame. She was not made Through years or moons the inner weight to bear, Which colder hearts endure till they are laid By age in earth; her days and pleasures were Brief, but delightful?such as had not staid Long with her destiny; but she sleeps well By the sea shore, whereon she loved to dwell. 57057558072 That isle is now all desolate and bare, Its dwellings down, its tenants past away; None but her own and father's grave is there, And nothing outward tells of human clay; Ye could not know where lies a thing so fair, No stone is there to show, no tongue to say What was; no dirge, except the hollow sea's, Mourns o'er the beauty of the Cyclades. 73 But many a Greek maid in a loving song Sighs o'er her name; and many an islander With her sire's story makes the night less long; Valour was his, and beauty dwelt with her; If she loved rashly, her life paid for wrong? A heavy price must all pay who thus err, In some shape; let none think to fly the danger, For soon or late Love is his own avenger.
.
734 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
74
585 But let me change this theme, which grows too sad,
And lay this sheet of sorrows on the shelf;
I don't much like describing people mad,
For fear of seeming rather touch'd myself?
Besides Fve no more on this head to add;
590 And as my Muse is a capricious elf,
We'll put about, and try another tack
With Juan, left half-kill'd some stanzas back.6 1818-23 1819-24
Stanzas Written on the Road between Florence and Pisa
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 ivy1 of sweet two-and-twenty
Are worth all your laurels,2 though ever so plenty. 5 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!3
What care I for the wreaths that can only give glory? Oh FAME!?if I e'er took delight in thy praises,
10 '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. There chiefly I sought thee, there only I found thee;
Her glance was the best of the rays that surround thee;
15 When it sparkled o'er aught that was bright in my story,
I knew it was love, and I felt it was glory. Nov. 1821 1830
6. Juan's adventures continue. He is sold as a slave in Constantinople to an enamored sultana; she dis
guises him as a girl and adds him to her husband's
harem for convenience of access. Juan escapes,
joins the Russian army that is besieging Ismail, and
so well distinguishes himself in the capture of the
town that he is sent with dispatches to St. Peters
burg. There he becomes 'man-mistress' to the
insatiable empress Catherine the Great. As the
result of her assiduous attentions, he falls into a
