Byron's Poetical Works, Volume 1

BEGINNING “‘SAD IS MY VERSE,’ YOU SAY, ‘AND YET NO TEAR.’”

1.

  Thy verse is “sad” enough, no doubt: 
    A devilish deal more sad than witty! 
  Why we should weep I can’t find out,
    Unless for thee we weep in pity.

2.

  Yet there is one I pity more;
    And much, alas!  I think he needs it: 
  For he, I’m sure, will suffer sore,
    Who, to his own misfortune, reads it.

3.

  Thy rhymes, without the aid of magic,
    May once be read—­but never after: 
  Yet their effect’s by no means tragic,
    Although by far too dull for laughter.

4.

  But would you make our bosoms bleed,
  And of no common pang complain—­
  If you would make us weep indeed,
  Tell us, you’ll read them o’er again.

March 8, 1807. [First published, 1832.]