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To the Countess of Blessington

Lord Byron·1788–1824
Lines:21Movement:Romanticism
You have asked for a verse:--the request In a rhymer 'twere strange to deny;But my Hippocrene was but my breast, And my feelings (its fountain) are dry. Were I now as I was, I had sung What Lawrence has painted so well;But the strain would expire on my tongue, And the theme is too soft for my shell. I am ashes where once I was fire, And the bard in my bosom is dead;What I loved I now merely admire, And my heart is as grey as my head. My Life is not dated by years-- There are _moments_ which act as a plough,And there is not a furrow appears But is deep in my soul as my brow. Let the young and the brilliant aspire To sing what I gaze on in vain;For Sorrow has torn from my lyre The string which was worthy the strain.  B.