I WOULD I WERE A CARELESS CHILD
By
Lord Byron
1808
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1
I would I were a careless child,
Still dwelling in my Highland cave,
Or roaming though the dusky wild,
Or bounding o'er the dark blue wave;
The cumbrous pomp of Saxon pride,
Accords not with the freeborn soul,
Which loves the mountain's craggy side,
And seeks the rocks where billows roll.
2
Fortune ! take back these cultur'd lands,
Take back this name of splendid sound !
I hate the touch of servile hands.
I hate the slaves that cringe around:
Place me among the rocks I love,
Which sound to Ocean's wildest roar;
I ask but this --- again to rove
Through scenes my youth hath known before.
3
Few are my years, and yet I feel
The World was ne'er design'd for me:
Ah ! why do dark'ning shades conceal
The hour when man must cease to be?
Once I beheld a splendid dream,
A visionary scene of bliss:
Truth ! --- wherefore did thy hated beam
Awake me to a world like this?
4
I lov'd --- but those I lov'd are gone;
Had friends --- my early friends are fled.
How cheerless feels the heart alone,
When all its former hopes are dead !
Though gay companions, o'er the bowl
Dispel awhile the sense of ill;
Though Pleasure stirs the maddening soul,
The heart --- the heart --- is lonely still.
5
How dull ! to hear the voice of those
Whom Rank or Chance, whom Wealth or Power,
Have made, though neither friends nor foes,
Associates of the festive hour.
Give me again a faithful few,
In years and feelings still the same,
And I will fly the midnight crew,
Where boist'rous Joy is but a name.
6
And Woman, lovely Woman ! thou,
My hope, my comforter, my all !
How cold must be my bosom now,
When e'en thy smiles begin to pall !
Without a sigh would I resign,
This busy scene of splendid Woe,
To make that calm contentment mine,
Which Virtue knows, or seems to know.
7
Fain would I fly the haunts of men ---
I seek to shun, not hate mankind;
My breast requires the sullen glen,
Whose gloom may suit a darken'd mind,
Oh ! that to me the wings were given,
Which bear the turtle to her nest !
Then would I cleave the vault of Heaven,
To flee away, and be at rest.
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