She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless frace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face,
Where thoughts serenly sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.
~George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron
Byron Todd Frank, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among Byron's best-known works are the brief poems She Walks in Beauty, When We Two Parted, and So, we'll go no more a roving, in addition to the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential. He travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died at 36 years old from a fever contracted while in Missolonghi in Greece. Byron was celebrated in life for aristocratic excesses including huge debts, numerous love affairs, rumours of a scandalous incestuous liaison with his half-sister, and self-imposed exile. It has been speculated that he suffered from bipolar I disorder, or manic depression
I have oft heard it said that genius is close to madness! I guess this proves it true! Have you ever noticed how many of our great writers and poets are people of aristocracy? I thought about that this morning and decided that it most probably is because in those days, they were the only ones with the luxury of having lots of time on their hands . . . time to write and think and create . . . as well as they were the only ones educated enough to be able to do so. I am sure there were a great many talented people who not aristocrats . . . but they were most likely too busy eking out their survival in whatever way that they could. One wonders how fabulous some of their writings might have been . . . they who truly lived their lives, who experienced hardship and denial, poverty and the real meaning of a hard day's labour.
I guess I just like to thinnk . . . and my mind does carry me into wierd and unsual places and spheres of thought!
Off to the shops early this morning. We went early last Saturday morning and I quite liked the experience. There was no fight for parking, or jostling my cart through the grocery store aisles, etc. Am I turning into a grumpy old woman??? lol
Baking in The English Kitchen this morning . . . some scrummy Honey Cornbread Surprise Muffins!
“True love requires action. We can speak of love all day long, we can write notes or poems that proclaim it, sing songs that praise it, and preach sermons that encourage it but until we manifest that love in action, our words are nothing but sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” ― Dieter F. Uchtdorf
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