Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/284

248 But thus it was; and though in solitude

Small power the nipped affections have to grow,

In him this glowed when all beside had ceased to glow.

LV.

And there was one soft breast, as hath been said,

Which unto his was bound by stronger ties

Than the church links withal; and—though unwed,

That love was pure—and, far above disguise,

Had stood the test of mortal enmities

Still undivided, and cemented more

By peril, dreaded most in female eyes;

But this was firm, and from a foreign shore

Well to that heart might his these absent greetings pour!