Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FAREWELL TO MALTA, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Adieu, ye joys of la valette Last Line: And bless the gods I've got a fever. Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron Subject(s): Malta; Travel; Journeys; Trips | ||||||||
ADIEU, ye joys of La Valette! Adieu, sirocco, sun, and sweat! Adieu, thou palace rarely entered! Adieu, ye mansions where--I've ventured! Adieu, ye cursed streets of stairs! (How surely he who mounts you swears!) Adieu, ye merchants often failing! Adieu, thou mob for ever railing! Adieu, ye packets--without letters! Adieu, ye fools--who ape your betters! Adieu, thou damned'st quarantine, That gave me fever, and the spleen! Adieu, that stage which makes us yawn, Sirs, Adieu, his Excellency's dancers! Adieu to Peter--whom no fault's in, But could not teach a colonel waltzing; Adieu, ye females fraught with graces! Adieu, red coats, and redder faces! Adieu, the supercilious air Of all that strut 'en militaire!' I go--but God knows when, or why, To smoky towns and cloudy sky. To things (the honest truth to say) As bad--but in a different way. Farewell to these, but not adieu, Triumphant sons of truest blue! While either Adriatic shore, And fallen chiefs, and fleets no more, And nightly smiles, and daily dinners, Proclaim you war and woman's winners. Pardon my Muse, who apt to prate is, And take my rhyme--because 'tis 'gratis'. And now, O Malta! since thou'st got us, Thou little military hothouse! I'll not offend with words uncivil, And wish thee rudely at the Devil, But only stare from out my casement, And ask, for what is such a place meant? Then, in my solitary nook, Return to scribbling, or a book, Or take my physic while I'm able (Two spoonfuls hourly by the label). Prefer my nighteap to my beaver, And bless the gods I've got a fever. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES TO H. B. (WITH A BOOK OF VERSE) by MAURICE BARING ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |
|