[MS. M. First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (4to).]
THE SPELL IS BROKE, THE CHARM IS FLOWN![m]
WRITTEN AT ATHENS, JANUARY 16, 1810.
The spell is broke, the charm is flown!
Thus is it with Life's fitful fever:
We madly smile when we should groan;
Delirium is our best deceiver.
Each lucid interval of thought
Recalls the woes of Nature's charter;
And He that acts as wise men ought,
But lives—as Saints have died—a martyr.
[MS. M. First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (4to).]
WRITTEN AFTER SWIMMING FROM SESTOS
TO ABYDOS.[7]
1.
If, in the month of dark December,
Leander, who was nightly wont
(What maid will not the tale remember?)
To cross thy stream, broad Hellespont!
2.
If, when the wintry tempest roared,
He sped to Hero, nothing loth,
And thus of old thy current poured,
Fair Venus! how I pity both!