Maid of Athens, Ere We Part
Maid of Athens, Ere We Part - context Summary
Composed During Byron's Greek Tour
Written in 1810 during Byron’s travels in Greece and included in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, this short lyric addresses a young Athenian woman with ardent, immediate passion. The speaker alternates pleading and vow, idealizing physical features and promising remembrance despite departure for Istanbul. The poem fuses travel-inflected exoticism with direct romantic urgency, using a repeated Greek refrain to underline personal attachment and the speaker’s inability to cease loving her.
Read Complete AnalysesMaid of Athens, ere we part, Give, oh give me back my heart! Or, since that has left my breast, Keep it now, and take the rest! Hear my vow before I go, Zoë mou, sas agapo! By those tresses unconfined, Wood by each Ægean wind; By those lids whose jetty fringe Kiss thy soft cheeks’ blooming tinge; By those wild eyes like the roe, Zoë mou, sas agapo! By that lip I long to taste; By that zone encircled waist; By all the token-flowers that tell What words can never speak so well; By love’s alternate joy and woe. Zoë mou, sas agapo! Maid of Athens! I am gone: Think of me, sweet! when alone. Though I fly to Istambol, Athens holds my heart and soul: Can I cease to love thee? No! Zoë mou, sas agapo!
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