17 Oh beautiful! and rare as beautiful! But theirs was love in which the mind To lose itself, when the old world grows And we are sick of its hack sounds and Its petty passions, marriages, and flights, Where Hymen's torch but brands one strumpet more, Whose husband only knows her not a 22 whore. 18 Hard words; harsh truth; a truth which Enough. The faithful and the fairy Who never found a single hour too slow, What was it made them thus exempt Young innate feelings all have felt below, were Inherent-what we mortals call romantic, And always envy, though we deem it 23 frantic. 19 This is in others a factitious state, An opium dream of too much youth But was in them their nature or their fate: For Haidée's knowledge was by no means And Juan was a boy of saintly breeding; 20 They gazed upon the sunset; 'tis an hour Dear unto all, but dearest to their eyes, Of love had first o'erwhelm'd them from When happiness had been their only dower, Charm'd with each other, all things The past still welcome as the present 21 I know not why, but in that hour tonight, came, Possibly Byron refers to Coleridge's Kubla Khan (p. 358). 24 Juan would question further, but she press'd His lips to hers, and silenced him with this, And then dismiss'd the omen from her breast, Defying augury with that fond kiss; And no doubt of all methods 'tis the best: Some people prefer wine-'tis not amiss; I have tried both; so those who would a part take May choose between the headache and the heartache. 25 One of the two according to your choice, Woman or wine, you'll have to undergo; Both maladies are taxes on our joys: 34 And wet, and cold, and lifeless at her feet, Pale as the foam that froth'd on his dead 38 And Haidée clung around him; "Juan, 'tis 35 And gazing on the dead, she thought his 39 High and inscrutable the old man stood, Calm in his voice, and calm within his Upon your person, twelve yards off, or so; A gentlemanly distance, not too near, Show what the passions are in their full growth. drew If you have got a former friend for foe; 46 The father paused a moment, then withBut after being fired at once or twice, The ear becomes more Irish, and less nice. 42 Lambro presented, and one instant more Had stopp'd this Canto, and Don Juan's breath, When Haidée threw herself her boy before; Stern as her sire: "On me," she cried, "let death Descend the fault is mine; this fatal shore He found-but sought not. I have pledged my faith; I love him- I will die with him: I knew Your nature's firmness-know your daughter's too." 43 A minute past, and she had been all tears, And tenderness, and infancy; but now She stood as one who champion'd human fears Pale, statue-like, and stern, she woo'd the blow; And tall beyond her sex, and their com peers, His weapon, and replaced it; but stood still, And looking on her, as to look her through, "Not I," he said, "have sought this stranger's ill; Not I have made this desolation: few Would bear such outrage, and forbear to kill; But I must do my duty-how thou hast Done thine, the present vouches for the past. 47 "Let him disarm; or, by my father's head, His own shall roll before you like a ball!'' He raised his whistle as the word he said, And blew; another answer'd to the call, And rushing in disorderly, though led, And arm'd from boot to turban, one and all, Some twenty of his train came, rank ou rank; He gave the word, "Arrest or slay the Frank." She drew up to her height, as if to show 48 Then, with a sudden movement, he withA fairer mark; and with a fix'd eye drew 50 And then they bound him where he fell, and bore Juan from the apartment: with a sign 54 I leave Don Juan for the present, safe Not sound, poor fellow, but severely 58 The last sight which she saw was Juan's wounded; 1 A small, swift galley moved by sails and oars. An inferior kind of black tea. A kind of French brandy. Phlegethon, the river of fire in Hades. That is, a headache. gore, |