THE GIAOUR.
139
And let the fool still prone to range,[lower-roman 1]
And sneer on all who cannot change,
Partake his jest with boasting boys;
I envy not his varied joys,
But deem such feeble, heartless man,
Less than yon solitary swan;
Far, far beneath the shallow maid[lower-roman 2]
He left believing and betrayed.
Such shame at least was never mine— 1180
Leila! each thought was only thine!
My good, my guilt, my weal, my woe,
My hope on high—my all below.
Earth holds no other like to thee,
Or, if it doth, in vain for me:
For worlds I dare not view the dame
Resembling thee, yet not the same.
The very crimes that mar my youth,
This bed of death—attest my truth!
'Tis all too late—thou wert, thou art 1190
The cherished madness of my heart![lower-roman 3]
And sneer on all who cannot change,
Partake his jest with boasting boys;
I envy not his varied joys,
But deem such feeble, heartless man,
Less than yon solitary swan;
Far, far beneath the shallow maid[lower-roman 2]
He left believing and betrayed.
Such shame at least was never mine— 1180
Leila! each thought was only thine!
My good, my guilt, my weal, my woe,
My hope on high—my all below.
Earth holds no other like to thee,
Or, if it doth, in vain for me:
For worlds I dare not view the dame
Resembling thee, yet not the same.
The very crimes that mar my youth,
This bed of death—attest my truth!
'Tis all too late—thou wert, thou art 1190
The cherished madness of my heart![lower-roman 3]
"And she was lost—and yet I breathed,
But not the breath of human life:
A serpent round my heart was wreathed,
And stung my every thought to strife.
Alike all time, abhorred all place,[lower-roman 4]
Shuddering I shrank from Nature's face,
But not the breath of human life:
A serpent round my heart was wreathed,
And stung my every thought to strife.
Alike all time, abhorred all place,[lower-roman 4]
Shuddering I shrank from Nature's face,
Variants
- ↑ And let the light, inconstant fool
That sneers his coxcomb ridicule.—[MS.] - ↑ Less than the soft and shallow maid.—[MS. erased.]
- ↑ The joy-the madness of my heart.—[MS.]
- ↑ To me alike all time and place—
Scarce could I gaze on Nature's face
For every hue———.—[MS.]
or, All, all was changed on Nature's face
To me alike all time and place.—[MS. erased.]
