Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/74

As stars that shoot along the sky^{[lower-roman 1]}
Shine brightest as they fall from high.

7.

As once I wept, if I could weep,
⁠My tears might well be shed,
To think I was not near to keep
⁠One vigil o'er thy bed;
To gaze, how fondly! on thy face,
To fold thee in a faint embrace,
⁠Uphold thy drooping head;
And show that love, however vain,
Nor thou nor I can feel again.

8.

Yet how much less it were to gain,
⁠Though thou hast left me free,^{[lower-roman 2]}
The loveliest things that still remain,
⁠Than thus remember thee!
The all of thine that cannot die
Through dark and dread Eternity^{[lower-roman 3]}
⁠Returns again to me,
And more thy buried love endears
Than aught, except its living years.

February, 1812.
[First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (Second Edition).]

Variants

1. As stars that seem to quit the sky.—[MS.]
2. O how much less it were to gain,
   ⁠All beauteous though they be.—[MS.]
3. Through dark and dull Eternity.—[MS.]