Fragment on the Back of the Ms. Of Canto I

Don Juan.

I would to Heaven that I were so much clay,

As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling—

Because at least the past were passed away,

And for the future—(but I write this reeling,

Having got drunk exceedingly to-day,

So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling)

I say—the future is a serious matter—

And so—for God's sake—hock and soda-water!