---

George Gordon Byron - Lines On Hearing That Lady Byron Was Ill
Work rating: Low

And thou wert sad - yet I was not with thee;
   And thou wert sick, and yet I was not near;
Methought that joy and health alone could be
   Where I was not - and pain and sorrow here!
And is it thus?-it is as I foretold, 
   And shall be more so; for the mind recoils
Upon itself, and the wreck`d heart lies cold,
   While heaviness collects the shatter`d spoils.
It is not in the storm nor in the strife
           We feel benumb`d, and wish to be no more,
   But in the after - silence on the shore.
When all is lost, except a little life.
I am too well avenged! - but `twas my right ;
   Whate`er my sins might be, thou wert not sent
To be the Nemesis who should requite -
      Nor did Heaven choose so near an instrument.
Mercy is for the merciful! - thou
Hast been of such, `twill be accorded now.
Thy nights are banish`d from the realms of sleep! -
    Yes! they may flatter thee, but thou shalt feel
   A hollow agony which will not heal,
For thou art pillow`d on a curse too deep; 
Thou hast sown in my sorrow, and must reap
   The bitter harvest in a woe as real!
I have had many foes, but none like thee;
       For `gainst the rest myself I could de­fend,   And be avenged, or turn them into friend;
But thou in safe implacability
Hadst nought to dread - in thy own weakness shielded,
And in my love, which hath but too much yielded,
   And spared, for thy sake, some I should not spare;
And thus upon the world - trust in thy truth,
And the wild fame of my ungovern`d youth -
   On things that were not, and on things that are - 
Even upon such a basis hast thou built
A monument, whose cement hath been guilt!
   The moral Clytemnestra of thy lord,
   And hew`d down, with an unsuspected sword,
Fame, peace, and hope - and all the better life,
Which, but for this cold treason of thy heart, 
Might still have risen from out the grave of strife,
   And found a nobler duty than to part.
But of thy virtues didst thou make a vice,
   Trafficking with them in a purpose cold,
      For present anger, and for future gold - 
And buying others` grief at any price.
And thus once enter `d into crooked ways,
The earthly truth, which was thy proper praise,
Did not still walk beside thee - but at times,
       And with a breast unknowing its own crimes,
Deceit, averments incompatible,
Equivocations, and the thoughts which dwell
   In Janus-spirits - the significant eye
Which learns to lie with silence - the pre­text
Of prudence, with advantages annex`d -
The acquiescence in all things which tend,
No matter how, to the desired end
   All found a place in thy philosophy.
The means were worthy, and the end is won
I would not do by thee as thou hast done!
 
September 1816.
Source
The script ran 0.005 seconds.