Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/460

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426
POEMS 1814-1816.

As caverned waters wear the stone,
Yet dropping harden there;
They cannot petrify more fast,
Than feelings sunk remain,
Which coldly fixed regard the past,
But never melt again.

[First published, Works, Paris, 1826, p. 716.]


STANZAS FOR MUSIC.

1.

Bright be the place of thy soul!
No lovelier spirit than thine
E'er burst from its mortal control,
In the orbs of the blessed to shine.
On earth thou wert all but divine,
As thy soul shall immortally be;[1]
And our sorrow may cease to repine
When we know that thy God is with thee.


2.

Light be the turf of thy tomb![2][3]
May its verdure like emeralds be![4]
There should not be the shadow of gloom

In aught that reminds us of thee.
  1. —— shall eternally be.—[MS. erased.]
  2. Green be the turf ——.—[MS.]
  3. [Compare "O lay me, ye that see the light, near some rock of my hills: let the thick hazels be around, let the rustling oaks be near. Green be the place of my rest."—"The War of Inis-Thona," Works of Ossian, 1765, i. 156.]
  4. May its verdure be sweetest to see.—[MS.]