Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/64

24 4.

'Tis this, my belov'd, which spreads gloom o'er my features,

Though I ne'er shall presume to arraign the decree

Which God has proclaim'd as the fate of his creatures,

In the death which one day will deprive you of me.

5.

Mistake not, sweet sceptic, the cause of emotion,

No doubt can the mind of your lover invade;

He worships each look with such faithful devotion,

A smile can enchant, or a tear can dissuade.

6.

But as death, my belov'd, soon or late shall o'ertake us,

And our breasts, which alive with such sympathy glow,

Will sleep in the grave, till the blast shall awake us,

When calling the dead, in Earth's bosom laid low.

7.

Oh! then let us drain, while we may, draughts of pleasure,

Which from passion, like ours, must unceasingly flow;

Let us pass round the cup of Love's bliss in full measure,

And quaff the contents as our nectar below. 1805.