Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/283

CANTO III.] Though on his brow were graven lines austere,

And tranquil sternness, which had ta'en the place

Of feelings fierier far but less severe—

Joy was not always absent from his face,

But o'er it in such scenes would steal with transient trace.

LIII.

Nor was all Love shut from him, though his days

Of Passion had consumed themselves to dust.

It is in vain that we would coldly gaze

On such as smile upon us; the heart must

Leap kindly back to kindness, though Disgust

Hath weaned it from all worldlings: thus he felt,

For there was soft Remembrance, and sweet Trust

In one fond breast, to which his own would melt,

And in its tenderer hour on that his bosom dwelt.

LIV.

And he had learned to love,—I know not why,

For this in such as him seems strange of mood,—

The helpless looks of blooming Infancy,

Even in its earliest nurture; what subdued,

To change like this, a mind so far imbued

With scorn of man, it little boots to know;