Page:Mazeppa (1819).djvu/20

“Of vassal or of knight’s degree,
“Could vie in vanities with me;
“For I had strength, youth, gaiety,
“A port, not like to this ye see,
“But smooth, as all is rugged now;
“For time, and care, and war, have plough’d190
“My very soul from out my brow;
“And thus I should be disavow’d
“By all my kind and kin, could they
“Compare my day and yesterday;
“This change was wrought, too, long ere age
“Had ta’en my features for his page:
“With years, ye know, have not declined
“My strength, my courage, or my mind,
“Or at this hour I should not be
“Telling old tales beneath a tree,200
“With starless skies my canopy.
“But let me on: Theresa’s form—
“Methinks it glides before me now,
“Between me and yon chestnut’s bough,
“The memory is so quick and warm;
“And yet I find no words to tell
“The shape of her I loved so well: