Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 3.djvu/293

CANTO II.] This was his doom;—the Leech, the guard, were gone,

And left proud Conrad fettered and alone.

X.

'Twere vain to paint to what his feelings grew —

It even were doubtful if their victim knew.

There is a war, a chaos of the mind,

When all its elements convulsed, combined

Lie dark and jarring with perturbéd force,

And gnashing with impenitent Remorse—

That juggling fiend, who never spake before,

But cries "I warned thee!" when the deed is o'er.

Vain voice! the spirit burning but unbent,

May writhe—rebel—the weak alone repent!

Even in that lonely hour when most it feels,

And, to itself, all—all that self reveals,—

No single passion, and no ruling thought

That leaves the rest, as once, unseen, unsought,

But the wild prospect when the Soul reviews,

All rushing through their thousand avenues—

Ambition's dreams expiring, Love's regret,

Endangered Glory, Life itself beset;

The joy untasted, the contempt or hate

'Gainst those who fain would triumph in our fate;

The hopeless past, the hasting future driven

Too quickly on to guess if Hell or Heaven;

Deeds—thoughts—and words, perhaps remembered not

So keenly till that hour, but ne'er forgot;

Things light or lovely in their acted time,

But now to stern Reflection each a crime;