II. Such is the common lot of man: Can we then 'scape from folly free? Can we reverse the general plan, Nor be what all in turn must be? 12. No; for myself, so dark my fate Man and the World so much I hate, 13. But thou, with spirit frail and light, 14. Alas! whenever Folly calls Where parasites and princes meet, (For cherish'd first in royal halls The welcome vices kindly greet,) 15. Ev'n now thou'rt nightly seen to add One insect to the fluttering crowd; And still thy trifling heart is glad To join the vain and court the proud. 16. There dost thou glide from fair to fair, Still simpering on with eager haste, As flies along the gay parterre, That taint the flowers they scarcely taste. 17. But say, what nymph will prize the flame Which seems, as marshy vapours move, To flit along from dame to dame, 18. What friend for thee, howe'er inclin'd Will deign to own a kindred care? Who will debase his manly mind, For friendship every fool may share? 19. In time forbear; amidst the throng Be something, any thing, but-mean. August 20th, 1808. [First published, 1809.] LINES INSCRIBED UPON A CUP FORMED FROM A SKULL.1 I. START not-nor deem my spirit fled; In me behold the only skull, From which, unlike a living head, 2. I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee: 3. Better to hold the sparkling grape, Than nurse the earth-worm's slimy brood; And circle in the goblet's shape The drink of Gods, than reptile's food. 1. [Byron gave Medwin the following account of this cup: "The gardener in digging [discovered] a skull that had probably belonged to some jolly friar or monk of the abbey, about the time it was dis-monasteried. Observing it to be of giant size, and in a perfect state of preservation, a strange fancy seized me of having it set and mounted as a drinking cup. I accordingly sent it to town, and it returned with a very high polish, and of a mottled colour like tortoiseshell."-Medwin's Conversations, 1824, p. 87.] |