Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/241

Rh 4.

As when one parent spring supplies

Two streams, which from one fountain rise,

Together join'd in vain;

How soon, diverging from their source,

Each, murmuring, seeks another course,

Till mingled in the Main!

5.

Our vital streams of weal or woe,

Though near, alas! distinctly flow,

Nor mingle as before:

Now swift or slow, now black or clear,

Till Death's unfathom'd gulph appear,

And both shall quit the shore.

6.

Our souls, my Friend! which once supplied

One wish, nor breathed a thought beside,

Now flow in different channels:

Disdaining humbler rural sports,

'Tis yours to mix in polish'd courts,

And shine in Fashion's annals;

7.

'Tis mine to waste on love my time,

Or vent my reveries in rhyme,

Without the aid of Reason;