Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/99

REMEMBER HIM, WHOM PASSION'S POWER.^{[decimal 1]}

1.
Remember him, whom Passion's power
⁠Severely—deeply—vainly proved:
Remember thou that dangerous hour,
⁠When neither fell, though both were loved.^{[lower-roman 1]}

2.
That yielding breast, that melting eye,^{[lower-roman 2]}
⁠Too much invited to be blessed:
That gentle prayer, that pleading sigh,
⁠The wilder wish reproved, repressed.

3.
Oh! let me feel that all I lost^{[lower-roman 3]}
⁠But saved thee all that Conscience fears;
And blush for every pang it cost
⁠To spare the vain remorse of years.

4.
Yet think of this when many a tongue,
⁠Whose busy accents whisper blame,
Would do the heart that loved thee wrong,
⁠And brand a nearly blighted name.^{[lower-roman 4]}

Variants

1. To him who loves and her who loved.—[MS. M.]
2. That trembling form ——.—[MS. M.]
3. Resigning thee, alas! I lost ⁠Joys bought too dear, if bright with tears, Yet ne'er regret the pangs it cost.—[MS. M. erased.]
4. And crush ——.—[MS. M.]

Notes

1. [It is possible that these lines, as well as the Sonnets "To Genevra," were addressed to Lady Frances Wedderburn Webster.—See Letters, 1898, ii, 2, note 1; and Letters, 1899, iii. 8, note 1.]