Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/72

2.

I will not ask where thou liest low,^{[lower-roman 1]}
⁠Nor gaze upon the spot;
There flowers or weeds at will may grow,
⁠So I behold them not:^{[lower-roman 2]}
It is enough for me to prove
That what I loved, and long must love,
⁠Like common earth can rot;^{[lower-roman 3]}
To me there needs no stone to tell,
'Tis Nothing that I loved so well.^{[lower-roman 4]}

3.

Yet did I love thee to the last
⁠As fervently as thou,^{[lower-roman 5]}
Who didst not change through all the past,
⁠And canst not alter now.
The love where Death has set his seal,
Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,^{[lower-roman 6]}
⁠Nor falsehood disavow:^{[lower-roman 7]}
And, what were worse, thou canst not see^{[lower-roman 8]}
Or wrong, or change, or fault in me.^{[lower-roman 9]}

4.

The better days of life were ours;

⁠The worst can be but mine:

Variants

1. I will not ask where thou art laid,
   ⁠Nor look upon the name.—[MS. erased.]
2. So I shall know it not.—[MS. erased.]
3. Like common dust can rot.—[MS.]
4. I would not wish to see nor touch.—[MS. erased.]
5. As well as warm as thou.—[MS. erased.]
6. MS. transposes lines 5 and 6 of stanza 3.
7. Nor frailty disavow.—[MS.]
8. Nor canst thou fair and faultless see.—[MS. erased.]
9. Nor wrong, nor change, nor fault in me.—[MS.]