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When We Two Parted by Lord Byron


"When We Two Parted" is a poem written by Lord Byron. This writing is sometimes seen as controversial due to what it's about: loving someone who no one else knows about. Therefore, there have been many assumptions about who this person is. Is the person described in the poem a fellow male? Was it someone close to Lord Byron's family? Who was it?

This poem is made up of four stanzas with eight lines in each. Each stanza contains the rhyme scheme ABABCDCD. The poem does not have a symple meter structure. Some lines contains five syllables, others have four, and others even have six.


When We Two Parted

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow--
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me--
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Lond, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.

I secret we met--
I silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.

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