The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 3 | Page 8

_May 9, 1810._
[First published, _Childe
Harold_, 1812 (4to).]
LINES IN THE TRAVELLERS' BOOK AT ORCHOMENUS.[9]
IN THIS BOOK A TRAVELLER HAD WRITTEN:--
"Fair Albion, smiling, sees her son depart
To trace the birth and
nursery of art:
Noble his object, glorious is his aim;
He comes to
Athens, and he--writes his name."
BENEATH WHICH LORD BYRON INSERTED THE
FOLLOWING:--
The modest bard, like many a bard unknown,
Rhymes on our names,
but wisely hides his own;
But yet, whoe'er he be, to say no worse,

His name would bring more credit than his verse.

1810.
[First
published, _Life_, 1830.]
MAID OF ATHENS, ERE WE PART.[n]
[Greek: Zôê/ mou, sa~s a)gapô~.]
1.
Maid of Athens,[10] ere we part,
Give, oh give me back my heart!


Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!

Hear my vow before I go,
[Greek: Zôê/ mou, sa~s a)gapô~.][11]
2.
By those tresses unconfined,
Wooed by each Ægean wind;
By those
lids whose jetty fringe
Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge;
By
those wild eyes like the roe,
[Greek: Zôê/ mou, sa~s a)gapô~.]
3.
By that lip I long to taste;
By that zone-encircled waist;
By all the
token-flowers[12] that tell
What words can never speak so well;
By
love's alternate joy and woe,
[Greek: Zôê/ mou, sa~s a)gapô~.]
4.
Maid of Athens! I am gone:
Think of me, sweet! when alone.

Though I fly to Istambol,[13]
Athens holds my heart and soul:
Can
I cease to love thee? No!
[Greek: Zôê/ mou, sa~s a)gapô~.]

_Athens_, 1810.
[First published, _Childe
Harold_, 1812 (4to).]
FRAGMENT FROM THE "MONK OF ATHOS."[14]
1.
Beside the confines of the Ægean main,
Where northward Macedonia bounds the flood,
And views opposed
the Asiatic plain,
Where once the pride of lofty Ilion stood,
Like the great Father of the
giant brood,

With lowering port majestic Athos stands,
Crowned with the verdure
of eternal wood,
As yet unspoiled by sacrilegious hands,
And throws his mighty shade
o'er seas and distant lands.
2.
And deep embosomed in his shady groves
Full many a convent rears its glittering spire,
Mid scenes where
Heavenly Contemplation loves
To kindle in her soul her hallowed fire,
Where air and sea with rocks
and woods conspire
To breathe a sweet religious calm around,
Weaning the thoughts from
every low desire,
And the wild waves that break with murmuring sound
Along the
rocky shore proclaim it holy ground.
3.
Sequestered shades where Piety has given
A quiet refuge from each earthly care,
Whence the rapt spirit may
ascend to Heaven!
Oh, ye condemned the ills of life to bear!
As with advancing age your woes increase,
What bliss amidst these
solitudes to share
The happy foretaste of eternal Peace,
Till Heaven in mercy bids your
pain and sorrows cease.
[First published in the

_Life of Lord Byron_,
by the Hon. Roden Noel, London,
1890, pp. 206, 207.]
LINES WRITTEN BENEATH A PICTURE.[15]
1.
Dear object of defeated care!
Though now of Love and thee bereft,

To reconcile me with despair
Thine image and my tears are left.
2.
'Tis said with Sorrow Time can cope;
But this I feel can ne'er be true:

For by the death-blow of my Hope
My Memory immortal grew.