George Gordon Noel Byron

Romances paint at full length people's wooings,
But only give a bust of marriages:
For no one read more

Romances paint at full length people's wooings,
But only give a bust of marriages:
For no one cares for matrimonial cooings.
There's nothing wrong in a connubial kiss.
Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife,
He would have written sonnets all his life?

Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow,
Such as Creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.

Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow,
Such as Creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.

Oh, Mirth and Innocence! Oh, Milk and Water!
Ye happy mixture of more happy days!

Oh, Mirth and Innocence! Oh, Milk and Water!
Ye happy mixture of more happy days!

O ye! who teach the ingenious youth of nations,
Holland, France, England, Germany or Spain,
I pray read more

O ye! who teach the ingenious youth of nations,
Holland, France, England, Germany or Spain,
I pray ye flog them upon all occasions,
It mends their morals, never mind the pain.

And one by one in turn, some grand mistake
Casts off its bright skin yearly like the snake.

And one by one in turn, some grand mistake
Casts off its bright skin yearly like the snake.