POETRY: Lord Byron

Excerpts from Don Juan:

26

Don José and the Donna Inez led

For some time and unhappy sort of life,

Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead;

They lived respectably as man and wife,

Their conduct was exceedingly well-bred,

And gave no outward signs of inward strife,

Until at length the smother'd fire broke out,

And put the business past all kind of doubt.

65

Alfonso was the name of Julia's lord,

A man well looking for his years, and who

Was neither much beloved, not yet abhorr'd;

They lived together as most people do,

Suffering each other's foibles by accord,

And not exactly either one or two

Yet he was jealous, though he did not show it,

For jealousy dislikes the world to know it.

69

Juan she saw, and as a pretty child,

Caress'd him often, such a thing might be

Quite innocently done, and harmless styled,

When she had twenty years, and thirteen he;

But I am not so sure I should have smiled

When he was sixteen, Julia twenty-three,

These few short years make wondrous alterations,

Particularly amongst sun-burnt nations.