Lord Byron - The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3 (And Thou Art Dead, As Young And Fair) lyrics

And Thou Art Dead, As Young And Fair[aq] "Heu, quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!"[34] 1. And thou art dead, as young and fair As aught of mortal birth; And form so soft, and charms so rare, Too soon returned to Earth![ar] Though Earth received them in her bed, And o'er the spot the crowd may tread[as] In carelessness or mirth, There is an eye which could not brook A moment on that grave to look. 2. I will not ask where thou liest low,[at] Nor gaze upon the spot; There flowers or weeds at will may grow, So I behold them not:[au] It is enough for me to prove That what I loved, and long must love, Like common earth can rot;[av] To me there needs no stone to tell, 'Tis Nothing that I loved so well[aw] 3. Yet did I love thee to the last As fervently as thou,[ax] Who didst not change through all the past, And canst not alter now. The love where d**h has set his seal, Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,[ay] Nor falsehood disavow:[az] And, what were worse, thou canst not see[ba] Or wrong, or change, or fault in me.[bb] 4. The better days of life were ours; The worst can be but mine: The sun that cheers, the storm that lowers,[bc] Shall never more be thine. The silence of that dreamless sleep[bd] I envy now too much to weep; Nor need I to repine, That all those charms have pa**ed away I might have watched through long decay. 5. The flower in ripened bloom unmatched Must fall the earliest prey;[be] Though by no hand untimely snatched, The leaves must drop away: And yet it were a greater grief To watch it withering, leaf by leaf, Than see it plucked to-day; Since earthly eye but ill can bear To trace the change to foul from fair. 6. I know not if I could have borne[bf] To see thy beauties fade; The night that followed such a morn Had worn a deeper shade: Thy day without a cloud hath pa**ed,[bg] And thou wert lovely to the last; Extinguished, not decayed; As stars that shoot along the sky[bh] Shine brightest as they fall from high. 7. As once I wept, if I could weep, My tears might well be shed, To think I was not near to keep One vigil o'er thy bed; To gaze, how fondly! on thy face, To fold thee in a faint embrace, Uphold thy drooping head; And show that love, however vain, Nor thou nor I can feel again. 8. Yet how much less it were to gain, Though thou hast left me free,[bi] The loveliest things that still remain, Than thus remember thee! The all of thine that cannot die Through dark and dread Eternity[bj] Returns again to me, And more thy buried love endears Than aught, except its living years. February, 1812. [First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (Second Edition).] Footnotes [aq] {41} Stanzas.—[Editions 1812-1831.] [34] ["The Lovers' Walk is terminated with an ornamental urn, inscribed to Miss Dolman, a beautiful and amiable relation of Mr. Shenstone's, who died of the small-pox, about twenty-one years of age, in the following words on one side:— 'Peramabili consobrinæ M.D.' On the other side— 'Ah! Maria! pvellarvm elegantissima! ah Flore venvstatis abrepta,vale! hev qvanto minvs est cvm reliqvis versari qvam tui meminisse.'" (From a Description of the Leasowes, by A. Dodsley; Poetical Works of William Shenstone [1798], p. xxix.)] [ar]Are mingled with the Earth.—[MS.] Were never meant for Earth.—[MS. erased.] [as] Unhonoured with the vulgar dread.—[MS. erased.] [at] {42}I will not ask where thou art laid, Nor look upon the name.—[MS. erased.] [au] So I shall know it not.—[MS. erased.] [av] Like common dust can rot.—[MS.] [aw] I would not wish to see nor touch.—[MS. erased.] [ax] As well as warm as thou.—[MS. erased.] [ay] MS. transposes lines 5 and 6 of stanza 3. [az] Nor frailty disavow.—[MS.] [ba] Nor canst thou fair and faultless see.—[MS. erased.] [bb] Nor wrong, nor change, nor fault in me.—[MS.] [bc] {43} The cloud that cheers——.—[MS.] [bd] The sweetness of that silent deep.—[MS.] [be]The flower in beauty's bloom unmatched Is still the earliest prey.—[MS.] The rose by some rude fingers snatched, Is earliest doomed to fade.—[MS. erased.] [bf] I do not deem I could have borne.—[MS.] [bg]But night and day of thine are pa**ed, And thou wert lovely to the last; Destroyed——.—[MS. erased.] [bh] {44} As stars that seem to quit the sky.—[MS.] [bi]O how much less it were to gain, All beauteous though they be.—[MS.] [bj] Through dark and dull Eternity.—[MS.]