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Lord Byron's Poems

Early Poems: To a Lady Who Presented the Author With the Velvet Band Which Bound Her Tresses

1.


This Band, which bound thy yellow hair

Is mine, sweet girl! thy pledge of love;

It claims my warmest, dearest care,

Like relics left of saints above.


2.


Oh! I will wear it next my heart;

'Twill bind my soul in bonds to thee:

From me again 'twill ne'er depart,

But mingle in the grave with me.


3.


The dew I gather from thy lip

Is not so dear to me as this;

'That' I but for a moment sip,

And banquet on a transient bliss: i


4.


'This' will recall each youthful scene,

E'en when our lives are on the wane;

The leaves of Love will still be green

When Memory bids them bud again.


1806. First published, 1832.


Footnote i:


'on a transient kiss.'


'MS. Newstead'.