Thou bitter pledge! thou mournful token!

Though painful, welcome to my breast!

Still, still, preserve that love unbroken,

Or break the heart to which thou'rt pressed.

Time tempers Love, but not removes,

More hallowed when its Hope is fled:

Oh! what are thousand living loves

To that which cannot quit the dead?

[First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (4to).]