III.

O Mary, canst thou wreck his peace
  Wha for thy sake wad gladly die? 
Or canst thou break that heart of his
  Whase only faut is loving thee? 
  If love for love thou wilt na gie,
At least be pity to me shown: 
  A thought ungentle canna be
The thought o’ Mary Morison.

Henderson and Henley’s Text.

* * * * *

LORD BYRON.

16. She Walks in Beauty.

I.

She walks in Beauty, like the night
  Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
  Meet in her aspect and her eyes: 
Thus mellowed to that tender light
  Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

II.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
  Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
  Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
  How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

III.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
  So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
  But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
  A heart whose love is innocent!

17. Oh!  Snatched Away in Beauty’s Bloom.

I.

  Oh! snatched away in beauty’s bloom,
  On thee shall press no ponderous tomb;
    But on thy turf shall roses rear
    Their leaves, the earliest of the year;
And the wild cypress wave in tender gloom: 

II.

  And oft by yon blue gushing stream
    Shall Sorrow lean her drooping head,
  And feed deep thought with many a dream,
    And lingering pause and lightly tread;
Fond wretch! as if her step disturbed the dead!

III.

  Away! we know that tears are vain,
    That Death nor heeds nor hears distress: 
    Will this unteach us to complain? 
      Or make one mourner weep the less? 
    And thou—­who tell’st me to forget,
    Thy looks are wan, thine eyes are wet.

18. Song from “The Corsair."

I.

Deep in my soul that tender secret dwells,
  Lonely and lost to light for evermore,
Save when to thine my heart responsive swells,
  Then trembles into silence as before.

II.

There, in its centre, a sepulchral lamp
  Burns the slow flame, eternal—­but unseen;
Which not the darkness of Despair can damp,
  Though vain its ray as it had never been.