Don Juan 08-051 ~ 055


Don Juan 08-051
Canto the Eighth
 
     LI
At first it grumbles, then it swears, and then,
    Like David, flings smooth pebbles 'gainst a giant;
At last it takes to weapons such as men
    Snatch when despair makes human hearts less pliant.
Then comes "the tug of war;" -- 't will come again,
    I rather doubt; and I would fain say "fie on 't,"
If I had not perceived that revolution
Alone can save the earth from hell's pollution.

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Don Juan 08-052
Canto the Eighth
 
     LII
But to continue: -- I say not the first,
    But of the first, our little friend Don Juan
Walk'd o'er the walls of Ismail, as if nursed
    Amidst such scenes -- though this was quite a new one
To him, and I should hope to most. The thirst
    Of glory, which so pierces through and through one,
Pervaded him -- although a generous creature,
As warm in heart as feminine in feature.

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Don Juan 08-053
Canto the Eighth
 
     LIII
And here he was -- who upon woman's breast,
    Even from a child, felt like a child; howe'er
The man in all the rest might be confest,
    To him it was Elysium to be there;
And he could even withstand that awkward test
    Which Rousseau points out to the dubious fair,
"Observe your lover when he leaves your arms;"
But Juan never left them, while they had charms,

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Don Juan 08-054
Canto the Eighth
 
     LIV
Unless compell'd by fate, or wave, or wind,
    Or near relations, who are much the same.
But here he was! -- where each tie that can bind
    Humanity must yield to steel and flame:
And he whose very body was all mind,
    Flung here by fate or circumstance, which tame
The loftiest, hurried by the time and place,
Dash'd on like a spurr'd blood-horse in a race.

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Don Juan 08-055
Canto the Eighth
 
     LV
So was his blood stirr'd while he found resistance,
    As is the hunter's at the five-bar gate,
Or double post and rail, where the existence
    Of Britain's youth depends upon their weight,
The lightest being the safest: at a distance
    He hated cruelty, as all men hate
Blood, until heated -- and even then his own
At times would curdle o'er some heavy groan.

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) 
ByronLong