Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/245

 slumbring The Haram's sluggish life of listless ease Is well exchanged for cares and joys like these Mine be the lot to know where'er I rove A thousand perils wait where-er I rove, Not blind to fate I view where-er I rove A thousand perils—but one only love— Yet well my labor shall fond breast repay When Fortune frowns or falser friends betray How dear the thought in darkest hours of ill Should all be changed to find thee faithful still Be but thy soul like Selim's firmly shown mine in firmness Firm as my own I deem thy tender heart To thee be Selim's tender as thine own Exchange, or mingle every thought with his And all our future days unite in this.

Man I may lead—but trust not—I may fall By those now friends to me—yet foes to all— In this they follow but the bent assigned fatal Nature By savage Nature to our warning kind But there—oh, far be every thought of fear Life is but peril at the best—and here No more remains to win and much to fear Yes fear—the doubt the dread of losing thee— That dread must vanish.