Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/589

Rh 10.

But that which keepeth us apart is not

Distance, nor depth of wave, nor space of earth,

But the distraction of a various lot,

As various as the climates of our birth.

11.

A stranger loves the Lady of the land,

Born far beyond the mountains, but his blood

Is all meridian, as if never fanned

By the black wind that chills the polar flood.

12.

My blood is all meridian; were it not,

I had not left my clime, nor should I be,

In spite of tortures, ne'er to be forgot,

A slave again of love,—at least of thee.

13.

'Tis vain to struggle—let me perish young—

Live as I lived, and love as I have loved;

To dust if I return, from dust I sprung,

And then, at least, my heart can ne'er be moved. June, 1819. [First published, Conversations of Lord Byron, 1824, 4to, pp. 24-26.]

SONNET ON THE NUPTIALS OF THE MARQUIS ANTONIO CAVALLI WITH THE COUNTESS CLELIA RASPONI OF RAVENNA.

Lady of the Italian shore

Lovely and young, herself a happy bride,

Commands a verse, and will not be denied,