Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/326

284 2.

I have tried in its turn all that life can supply;

I have bask'd in the beam of a dark rolling eye;

I have lov'd!—who has not?—but what heart can declare

That Pleasure existed while Passion was there?

3.

In the days of my youth, when the heart's in its spring,

And dreams that Affection can never take wing,

I had friends!—who has not?—but what tongue will avow,

That friends, rosy wine! are so faithful as thou?

4.

The heart of a mistress some boy may estrange,

Friendship shifts with the sunbeam—thou never canst change;

Thou grow'st old—who does not?—but on earth what appears,

Whose virtues, like thine, still increase with its years?

5.

Yet if blest to the utmost that Love can bestow,

Should a rival bow down to our idol below,

We are jealous!—who's not?—thou hast no such alloy;

For the more that enjoy thee, the more we enjoy.