Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/470

CXXXIV.

And if my voice break forth, 'tis not that now^[1]
⁠I shrink from what is suffered: let him speak
⁠Who hath beheld decline upon my brow,
⁠Or seen my mind's convulsion leave it weak;
⁠But in this page a record will I seek.
⁠Not in the air shall these my words disperse,
⁠Though I be ashes; a far hour shall wreak
⁠The deep prophetic fulness of this verse,
And pile on human heads the mountain of my curse!

1. ⁠'tis not that now
   And if my voice break forth—it is not that
   I shrink from what is suffered—let him speak
   ⁠decline upon my
   ⁠Who⁠ humbler in
   What hath beheld me quiver on my brow
   ⁠seen my mind's convulsion leave it blenched or weak?
   Or my internal spirit changed or weak
   ⁠found my mind convulsed
   ⁠a
   But in this page the record which I seek
   ⁠will
   ⁠from out the deep
   ⁠stands and⁠ of that remorse
   Shall stand and when that hour shall come and come
   Shall come⁠ though I be ashes⁠ and shall pile heap
   It will⁠ come and wreak
   In fire the measure
   The fiery prophecy
   The fullness of my
   The fullness of my prophecy or heap
   The mountain of my curse
   Not in the air shall these my words disperse
   'Tis written that an hour of deep remorse
   Though I be ashes a deep far hour shall wreak
   The fullness Thee⁠ this
   The deep prophetic fullness of my verse
   And pile on human heads the mountain of my curse.—[MS. M.]