Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/108

74 To soothe Indignity—and face to face

Meet sordid Rage, and wrestle with Disgrace,

To find in Hope but the renewed caress,

The serpent-fold of further Faithlessness:—

If such may be the Ills which men assail,

What marvel if at last the mightiest fail?

Breasts to whom all the strength of feeling given

Bear hearts electric—charged with fire from Heaven,

Black with the rude collision, inly torn,

By clouds surrounded, and on whirlwinds borne,

Driven o'er the lowering atmosphere that nurst

Thoughts which have turned to thunder—scorch, and burst.

But far from us and from our mimic scene

Such things should be—if such have ever been;

Ours be the gentler wish, the kinder task,

To give the tribute Glory need not ask,