Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/438

396 'Tis then—and shall be—lawful to present

Reform in writing, as in Parliament.

As forests shed their foliage by degrees,

So fade expressions which in season please;

And we and ours, alas! are due to Fate,

And works and words but dwindle to a date.

Though as a Monarch nods, and Commerce calls,

Impetuous rivers stagnate in canals;

Though swamps subdued, and marshes drained, sustain

The heavy ploughshare and the yellow grain,

And rising ports along the busy shore

Protect the vessel from old Ocean's roar,

All, all, must perish; but, surviving last,

The love of Letters half preserves the past.

True, some decay, yet not a few revive;