To Time

George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)



Time! on whose arbitrary wing
   The varying hours must flag or fly,
Whose tardy winter, fleeting spring,
   But drag or drive us on to die---
Hail thou! who on my birth bestowed
   Those boons to all that know thee known;
Yet better I sustain thy load,
   For now I bear the weight alone.
I would not one fond heart should share
   The bitter moments thou hast given;
And pardon thee---since thou couldst spare
   All that I loved, to peace or Heaven.
To them be joy or rest---on me
   Thy future ills shall press in vain;
I nothing owe but years to thee,
   A debt already paid in pain.
Yet even that pain was some relief;
   It felt, but still forgot thy power:
The active agony of grief
   Retards, but never counts the hour.
In joy I've sighed to think thy flight
   Would soon subside from swift to slow;
Thy cloud could overcast the light,
   But could not add a night to Woe;
For then, however drear and dark,
   My soul was suited to thy sky;
One star alone shot forth a spark
   To prove thee---not Eternity.
That beam hath sunk---and now thou art
   A blank---a thing to count and curse
Through each dull tedious trifling part,
   Which all regret, yet all rehearse.
One scene even thou canst not deform---
   The limit of thy sloth or speed
When future wanderers bear the storm
   Which we shall sleep too sound to heed.
And I can smile to think how weak
   Thine efforts shortly shall be shown,
When all the vengeance thou canst wreak
   Must fall upon---a nameless stone.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

1:20 min read
151

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGHGHIJIJKLKLMBMGNONOPQPQRDRD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,454
Words 268
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 40

George Gordon Lord Byron

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet, peer and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence, and is considered one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement. He is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and remains widely read and influential. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular. He travelled extensively across Europe, especially in Italy, where he lived for seven years in the cities of Venice, Ravenna, and Pisa. During his stay in Italy he frequently visited his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in life Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire and died of disease leading a campaign during that war, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 from a fever contracted after the First and Second Siege of Missolonghi. His only legitimate child, Ada Lovelace, is regarded as a foundational figure in the field of computer programming based on her notes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Byron's illegitimate children include Allegra Byron, who died in childhood, and possibly Elizabeth Medora Leigh.  more…

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