The Poet's Impulse. Lord Byron (1788-1824). Poems of Sentiment: IV. Thought: Poetry: Books. Bliss Carman, et al., eds. 1904. The World's Best Poetry. VI. Fancy

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VI. Fancy. 1904.

Poems of Sentiment: IV. Thought: Poetry: Books

The Poet’s Impulse

Lord Byron (1788–1824)


From “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” Canto III. SKY, mountains, river, winds, lake, lightnings! ye
With night, and clouds, and thunder, and a soul
To make these felt and feeling, well may be
Things that have made me watchful; the far roll
Of your departing voices is the knoll	5
Of what in me is sleepless,—if I rest.
But where of ye, O tempests! is the goal?
Are ye like those within the human breast?
Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest?

Could I embody and unbosom now	10
That which is most within me,—could I wreak
My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw
Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak,
All that I would have sought, and all I seek,
Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe—into one word,	15
And that one word were Lightning, I would speak;
But as it is, I live and die unheard,
With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword.