To D–
To D– - fact Summary
Poem to an Estranged Friend
Byron addresses a close friend—likely a woman—with whom he was estranged by envy. The speaker mourns that envy has torn the friend from his embrace but insists her image remains fixed in his heart. He declares that only death could part them permanently and imagines a posthumous reunion when "life again to dust is given," promising to find heaven only by lying on her breast in death.
Read Complete AnalysesIn thee I fondly hoped to clasp A friend whom death alone could sever; Till envy, with malignant grasp, Detach’d thee from my breast for ever. True, she has forced thee from my breast, Yet in my heart thou keep’st thy seat; There, there thine image still must rest, Until that heart shall cease to beat. And when the grave restored her dead, When life again to dust is given, On thy dear breast I’ll lay my head– Without thee where would be my heaven?
February 1803
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