Poems of Lord Byron — Volume 1 by Lord Byron, Ernest Hartley Coleridge
To the Author of a Sonnet Beginning, "’Sad Is My Verse,’ You Say, ’and Yet No Tear.’"
1.
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.
2.
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.
3.
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.
4.
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.]
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