Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/61

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CANTO I.
CHILDE HAROLD’S PILGRIMAGE.
27

Or dost thou dread the billows' rage,
Or tremble at the gale?
But dash the tear-drop from thine eye;
Our ship is swift and strong:
Our fleetest falcon scarce can fly[1]
More merrily along."[2]


4.

"Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high,[3]
I fear not wave nor wind:
Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I
Am sorrowful in mind;[4]
For I have from my father gone,
A mother whom I love,
And have no friend, save these alone,
But thee—and One above.


    myself, he seems a friendless animal. Tell Mr. Rushton his son is well, and doing well" (letter to Mrs. Byron, Falmouth, June 22, 1809: Letters, 1898, i. 224).]

  1. Our best gos-hawk can hardly fly
    So merrily along.—[MS.]
    Our best greyhound can hardly fly.—[D. erased.]

  2. Here follows in the MS. the following erased stanza:—

    My mother is a high-born dame,
    And much misliketh me;
    She saith my riot bringeth shame
    On all my ancestry.
    I had a sister once I ween,
    Whose tears perhaps will flow;
    But her fair face I have not seen
    For three long years and moe.

  3. Oh master dear I do not cry
    From fear of wave or wind.—[MS.]

  4. [Robert was sent back from Gibraltar under the care of Joe Murray (see letter to Mr. Rushton, August 15, 1809: Letters, 1898, i. 242).]