Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
Love of EnglandLord Byron (17881824)
I
Have made me not a stranger; to the mind
Which is itself, no changes bring surprise;
Nor is it harsh to make, nor hard to find
A country with,—ay, or without mankind;
Yet was I born where men are proud to be,
Not without cause; and should I leave behind
The inviolate island of the sage and free,
And seek me out a home by a remoter sea,—
My ashes in a soil which is not mine,
My spirit shall resume it,—if we may
Unbodied choose a sanctuary. I twine
My hopes of being remembered in my line
With my land’s language; if too fond and far
These aspirations in their scope incline,—
If my fame should be as my fortunes are,
Of hasty growth and blight, and dull Oblivion bar
Are honored by the nations—let it be,—
And light the laurels on a loftier head!
And be the Spartan’s epitaph on me,—
“Sparta hath many a worthier son than he.”