Translation of a Romaic Love Song
Ah! Love was never yet withoutThe pang, the agony, the doubt,Which rends my heart with ceaseless sigh,While day and night roll darkling by.
Without one friend to hear my woe,I faint, I die beneath the blow.That Love had arrows, well I knew,Alas! I find them poisoned too.
Birds, yet in freedom, shun the netWhich Love around your haunts hath set;Or, circled by his fatal fire,Your hearts shall burn, your hopes expire.
A bird of free and careless wingWas I, through many a smiling spring;But caught within the subtle snare,I burn, and feebly flutter there.
Who ne'er have loved, and loved in vain,Can neither feel nor pity pain,The cold repulse, the look askance,The lightning of Love's angry glance.
In flattering dreams I deemed thee mine;Now hope, and he who hoped, decline;Like melting wax, or withering flower,I feel my passion, and thy power.
My light of Life! ah, tell me whyThat pouting lip, and altered eye?My bird of Love! my beauteous mate!And art thou changed, and canst thou hate?
Mine eyes like wintry streams o'erflow:What wretch with me would barter woe?My bird! relent: one note could giveA charm to bid thy lover live.
My curdling blood, my madd'ning brain,In silent anguish I sustain;And still thy heart, without partakingOne pang, exults--while mine is breaking.
Pour me the poison; fear not thou!Thou canst not murder more than now:I've lived to curse my natal day,And Love, that thus can lingering slay.
My wounded soul, my bleeding breast,Can patience preach thee into rest?Alas! too late, I dearly knowThat Joy is harbinger of Woe.
Words in this poem
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- askance adv.
- Sideways; obliquely; with a side glance; with disdain, envy, or suspicion. [Cf. D. schuin, schuins, sideways, schuiven to shove, schuinte slope. Cf. Asquint.]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
- pouting n.
- Childish sullenness.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- relent v. i.
- To become less rigid or hard; to yield; to dissolve; to melt; to deliquesce. [F. ralentir, fr. L. pref. re- re- + ad to + lentus pliant, flexible, slow. See Lithe.]
- natal a.
- Of or pertaining to one's birth; accompying or dating from one's birth; native. [L. natalis, fr. natus, p.p. of nasci to be born: cf. F. natal. See Nation, and cf. Noel.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Translation of a Romaic Love Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3, Project Gutenberg ebook #21811; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lord Byron, Translation of a Romaic Love Song, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/translation-of-a-romaic-love-song.html, id L23853.
Form and metre
Translation of a Romaic Love Song is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABB withoutA · doubtA · sighB · byB
- 2 AABB woeA · blowA · knewB · tooB
- 3 AABB netA · setA · fireB · expireB
- 4 AABB wingA · springA · snareB · thereB
- 5 AABB vainA · painA · askanceB · glanceB
- 6 AABB mineA · declineA · flowerB · powerB
- 7 AABB whyA · eyeA · mateB · hateB
- 8 AABB o'erflowA · woeA · giveB · liveB
- 9 AABB brainA · sustainA · partakingB · breakingB
- 10 AABB thouA · nowA · dayB · slayB
- 11 AABB breastA · restA · knowB · woeB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ah! Love was never yet without | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The pang, the agony, the doubt, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Which rends my heart with ceaseless sigh, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| While day and night roll darkling by. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Without one friend to hear my woe, | 8 | ········ |
| I faint, I die beneath the blow. | 8 | ········ |
| That Love had arrows, well I knew, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Alas! I find them poisoned too. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Birds, yet in freedom, shun the net | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which Love around your haunts hath set; | 8 | ········ |
| Or, circled by his fatal fire, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Your hearts shall burn, your hopes expire. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A bird of free and careless wing | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was I, through many a smiling spring; | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| But caught within the subtle snare, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I burn, and feebly flutter there. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Who ne'er have loved, and loved in vain, | 8 | ········ |
| Can neither feel nor pity pain, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The cold repulse, the look askance, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| The lightning of Love's angry glance. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In flattering dreams I deemed thee mine; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Now hope, and he who hoped, decline; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Like melting wax, or withering flower, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘/ |
| I feel my passion, and thy power. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| My light of Life! ah, tell me why | 8 | ········ |
| That pouting lip, and altered eye? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My bird of Love! my beauteous mate! | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And art thou changed, and canst thou hate? | 8 | ········ |
| Mine eyes like wintry streams o'erflow: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What wretch with me would barter woe? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My bird! relent: one note could give | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A charm to bid thy lover live. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My curdling blood, my madd'ning brain, | 8 | ········ |
| In silent anguish I sustain; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And still thy heart, without partaking | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| One pang, exults--while mine is breaking. | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Pour me the poison; fear not thou! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thou canst not murder more than now: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I've lived to curse my natal day, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And Love, that thus can lingering slay. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My wounded soul, my bleeding breast, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Can patience preach thee into rest? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Alas! too late, I dearly know | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| That Joy is harbinger of Woe. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
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