Byron's Poetical Works, Volume 1

WHO PRESENTED THE AUTHOR WITH THE VELVET BAND WHICH BOUND HER TRESSES.

1.

  This Band, which bound thy yellow hair
    Is mine, sweet girl! thy pledge of love;
  It claims my warmest, dearest care,
    Like relics left of saints above.

2.

  Oh!  I will wear it next my heart;
    ’Twill bind my soul in bonds to thee: 
  From me again ’twill ne’er depart,
    But mingle in the grave with me.

3.

  The dew I gather from thy lip
    Is not so dear to me as this;
  That I but for a moment sip,
    And banquet on a transient bliss:  [i]

4.

  This will recall each youthful scene,
    E’en when our lives are on the wane;
  The leaves of Love will still be green
    When Memory bids them bud again.

1806. [First published, 1832.]

[Footnote i: 

  on a transient kiss.

[’MS. Newstead’.]