Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 4.djvu/93

Rh LINES ON HEARING THAT LADY BYRON WAS ILL.

thou wert sad—yet I was not with thee;

And thou wert sick, and yet I was not near;

Methought that Joy and Health alone could be

Where I was not—and pain and sorrow here!

And is it thus?—it is as I foretold,

And shall be more so; for the mind recoils

Upon itself, and the wrecked heart lies cold,

While Heaviness collects the shattered spoils.

It is not in the storm nor in the strife

We fed benumbed, and wish to be no more,

But in the after-silence on the shore,

When all is lost, except a little life.

I am too well avenged!—but 'twas my right;

Whate'er my sins might be, thou wert not sent

To be the Nemesis who should requite—

Nor did Heaven choose so near an instrument