← The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 7. Poetry

Journal in Cephalonia

The dead have been awakened—shall I sleep?
The World's at war with tyrants—shall I crouch?
The harvest's ripe—and shall I pause to reap?
I slumber not; the thorn is in my Couch;
Each day a trumpet soundeth in mine ear,
Its echo in my heart——

June 19, 1823.
[First published, Letters, 1901, vi. 238.]