Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/245

slumbring
The Haram's sluggish life of listless ease
Is well exchanged for cares and joys like these
Mine be the lot to know where'er I rove
A thousand perils wait where-er I rove,
Not blind to fate I view where-er I rove
A thousand perils—but one only love—
Yet well my labor shall fond breast repay
When Fortune frowns or falser friends betray
How dear the thought in darkest hours of ill
Should all be changed to find thee faithful still
Be but thy soul like Selim's firmly shown
mine in firmness
Firm as my own I deem thy tender heart
To thee be Selim's tender as thine own
Exchange, or mingle every thought with his
And all our future days unite in this.
————
Man I may lead—but trust not—I may fall
By those now friends to me—yet foes to all—
In this they follow but the bent assigned
fatal Nature
By savage Nature to our warning kind
But there—oh, far be every thought of fear
Life is but peril at the best—and here
No more remains to win and much to fear
Yes fear—the doubt the dread of losing thee—
That dread must vanish.