Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/42

Had bards as many realms as rhymes,^{[lower-roman 1]}
⁠Thy charms might raise new Antonies.^{[lower-roman 2]}

5.

Though Fate forbids such things to be,^{[lower-roman 3]}
⁠Yet, by thine eyes and ringlets curled!
I cannot lose a world for thee,
⁠But would not lose thee for a World.^{[decimal 1]}

November 14, 1809.
[MS. M. First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (4to).]

THE SPELL IS BROKE, THE CHARM IS FLOWN!^{[lower-roman 4]}

WRITTEN AT ATHENS, JANUARY 16, 1810.

The spell is broke, the charm is flown!
⁠Thus is it with Life's fitful fever:
We madly smile when we should groan;
⁠Delirium is our best deceiver.
Each lucid interval of thought
⁠Recalls the woes of Nature's charter;
And He that acts as wise men ought,
⁠But lives—as Saints have died—a martyr.

[MS. M. First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (4to).]

Variants

1. Had Bards but realms along with rhymes.—[MS. M.]
2. Again we'd see some Antonies.—[MS. M.]
3. Though Jove ——.—[MS. M.]
4. Written at Athens.—[1812.]

Notes

1. [Compare [A Woman's Hair] stanza 1, line 4, "I would not lose you for a world."—Poetical Works, 1898, i. 233.]