The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero)/Poetry/Volume 3/Lines written on a Blank Leaf of The Pleasures of Memory

by George Gordon Byron

LINES WRITTEN ON A BLANK LEAF OF THE PLEASURES OF MEMORY.^{[lower-roman 1]}

1.Absent or present, still to thee,My friend, what magic spells belong!As all can tell, who share, like me,In turn thy converse,^{[decimal 1]} and thy song.

2.But when the dreaded hour shall comeBy Friendship ever deemed too nigh,And "Memory" o'er her Druid's tomb^{[decimal 2]}Shall weep that aught of thee can die,

3.How fondly will she then repayThy homage offered at her shrine,And blend, while ages roll away,Her name immortally with thine!April 19, 1812.
[First published, Poems, 1816.]

Variants

1. To Samuel Rogers, Esq.—[Poems, 1816.]

Notes

1. ["Rogers is silent,—and, it is said, severe. When he does talk, he talks well; and, on all subjects of taste, his delicacy of expression is pure as his poetry. If you enter his house—his drawing-room—his library—you of yourself say, this is not the dwelling of a common mind. There is not a gem, a coin, a book thrown aside on his chimney-piece, his sofa, his table, that does not bespeak an almost fastidious elegance in the possessor."—Diary, 1813; Letters, 1898, ii. 331.]
2. [Compare Collins' Ode on the Death of Mr. Thomson—

   "In yonder grave a Druid lies."]