Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/82

42 4.

'Tis I that am alone to blame,

I that am guilty of love's treason;

Since your sweet breast is still the same,

Caprice must be my only reason.

5. I do not, love! suspect your truth,

With jealous doubt my bosom heaves not;

Warm was the passion of my youth,

One trace of dark deceit it leaves not.

6.

No, no, my flame was not pretended;

For, oh! I lov'd you most sincerely;

And though our dream at last is ended

My bosom still esteems you dearly.

7.

No more we meet in yonder bowers;

Absence has made me prone to roving;

But older, firmer hearts than ours

Have found monotony in loving.

8.

Your cheek's soft bloom is unimpair'd,

New beauties, still, are daily bright'ning,

Your eye, for conquest beams prepar'd,

The forge of love's resistless lightning.