Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/405

Rh "Why slumbers ?" once was asked in vain;

Why slumbers ? let us ask again.

Are there no follies for his pen to purge?

Are there no fools whose backs demand the scourge?

Are there no sins for Satire's Bard to greet?

Stalks not gigantic Vice in every street?

Shall Peers or Princes tread Pollution's path,

And 'scape alike the Laws and Muse's wrath?

Nor blaze with guilty glare through future time,

Eternal beacons of consummate crime?

Arouse thee, ! be thy promise claimed,

Make bad men better, or at least ashamed.

Unhappy White! while life was in its spring,

And thy young Muse just waved her joyous wing,