Stanzas Written On The Road Between Florence And Pisa.[603]

1.     Oh, talk not to me of a name great in story -     The days of our Youth are the days of our glory;     And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty     Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty.[604] 2.     What are garlands and crowns to the brow that is wrinkled?     Tis but as a dead flower with May-dew besprinkled:     Then away with all such from the head that is hoary,     What care I for the wreaths that can only give glory? 3.     Oh Fame! - if I e'er took delight in thy praises,     'Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases,     Than to see the bright eyes of the dear One discover,     She thought that I was not unworthy to love her. 4.     There chiefly I sought thee, there only I found thee;     Her Glance was the best of the rays that surround thee,     When it sparkled o'er aught that was bright in my story,     I knew it was Love, and I felt it was Glory.     November 6, 1821.                 [First published, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, 1830, ii. 366, note.]