Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/585

Rh 'Tis fifty years, and three to boot,

Since, hand to hand, and foot to foot,

And heart to heart, and sword to sword,

One of our Ancestors was gored.

I've seen the sword that slew him; he,

The slain, stood in a like degree

To thee, as he, the Slayer, stood

(Oh had it been but other blood!)

In kin and Chieftainship to me.

Thus came the Heritage to thee.

2.

To me the Lands of him who slew

Came through a line of yore renowned;

For I can boast a race as true

To Monarchs crowned, and some discrowned,

As ever Britain's Annals knew:

For the first Conqueror gave us Ground,

And the last Conquered owned the line

Which was my mother's, and is mine.

3.

I loved thee—I will not say how,

Since things like these are best forgot: