Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/301

The breath which made him wretched; yet he knew
How to make Madness beautiful, and cast
O'er erring deeds and thoughts, a heavenly hue^[1]
Of words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they past
The eyes, which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast.

LXXVIII.

His love was Passion's essence—as a tree
On fire by lightning; with ethereal flame
Kindled he was, and blasted; for to be
Thus, and enamoured, were in him the same.^[2]
But his was not the love of living dame,
Nor of the dead who rise upon our dreams,
But of ideal Beauty, which became
In him existence, and o'erflowing teems
Along his burning page, distempered though it seems.

LXXIX.

This breathed itself to life in Julie, this
Invested her with all that's wild and sweet;
This hallowed, too, the memorable kiss^N18
Which every morn his fevered lip would greet,
From hers, who but with friendship his would meet;

But to that gentle touch, through brain and breast

1. O'er sinful deeds and thoughts the heavenly hue
   With words like sunbeams dazzling as they passed
   The eye that o'er them shed deep tears which flowed too fast.—[MS.]
   O'er deeds and thoughts of error the bright hue.—[MS. erased.]

2. Like him enamoured were to die the same.—[MS.]