Early Poems: To the Author of a Sonnet Beginning "'Sad Is My Verse,' You Say, 'and Yet No Tear'"

Thy verse is "sad" enough, no doubt:

A devilish deal more sad than witty!

Why we should weep I can't find out,

Unless for 'thee' we weep in pity.

Yet there is one I pity more;

And much, alas! I think he needs it:

For he, I'm sure, will suffer sore,

Who, to his own misfortune, reads it.

Thy rhymes, without the aid of magic,

May 'once' be read - but never after:

Yet their effect's by no means tragic,

Although by far too dull for laughter.

But would you make our bosoms bleed,

And of no common pang complain -

If you would make us weep indeed,

Tell us, you'll read them o'er again.

March 8, 1807. First published, 1832.

Lord Byron's Poems - Complete Text

Lord Byron's Poems E-Text contains the full text of Lord Byron's Poems