To the Earl of Clare
Tu semper amoris
Sis memor, et cari comitis ne abscedat imago.
- Flavian Epic 'Argonaut', Book IV, lines 36-37
Never forget your love;
Never let the vision of your beloved comrade slip from your mind.
Friend of my youth! when young we roved,
Like striplings, mutually beloved,
With Friendship's purest glow,
The bliss which wing'd those rosy hours
Was such as Pleasure seldom showers
On mortals here below.
The recollection seems, alone,
Dearer than all the joys I've known,
When distant far from you:
Though pain, 'tis still a pleasing pain,
To trace those days and hours again,
And sigh again, adieu!
My pensive memory lingers o'er
Those scenes to be enjoy'd no more,
Those scenes regretted ever;
The measure of our youth is full,
Life's evening dream is dark and dull,
And we may meet--ah! never!
As when one parent spring supplies
Two streams which from one fountain rise,
Together join'd in vain;
How soon, diverging from their source,
Each, murmuring, seeks another course,
Till mingled in the Main!
Our vital streams of weal or woe,
Though near, alas! distinctly flow,
Nor mingle as before:
Now swift or slow, now black or clear,
Till death's unfathom'd gulf appear,
And both shall quit the shore.
Our souls, my Friend! which once supplied
One wish, nor breathed a thought beside,
Now flow in different channels:
Disdaining humbler rural sports,
'Tis yours to mix in polish'd courts,
And shine in fashion's annals;
'Tis mine to waste on love my time,
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poem by Byron (1807)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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