As stars that shoot along the sky[lower-roman 1]
Shine brightest as they fall from high.
7.
As once I wept, if I could weep,
My tears might well be shed,
To think I was not near to keep
One vigil o'er thy bed;
To gaze, how fondly! on thy face,
To fold thee in a faint embrace,
Uphold thy drooping head;
And show that love, however vain,
Nor thou nor I can feel again.
8.
Yet how much less it were to gain,
Though thou hast left me free,[lower-roman 2]
The loveliest things that still remain,
Than thus remember thee!
The all of thine that cannot die
Through dark and dread Eternity[lower-roman 3]
Returns again to me,
And more thy buried love endears
Than aught, except its living years.
February, 1812.
[First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (Second Edition).]
Variants