By Lord Byron (1817)
So, we’ll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.
Originally published in Letters and Journals of Lord Byron (1830) by Lord Byron. Public domain.
Analysis
This brief lyric condenses a Romantic education: passion must submit to time. The poem’s proverbs — sword and sheath, heart and breath — turn experience into measure, not cynicism. The repetition is lullaby-like, a gentle vow to exchange excess for endurance.
Byron’s tone is tender, not moralizing. He speaks from within desire, acknowledging its need for rest so that it may last. In its quiet cadence the poem offers a counter-creed to restless youth: love ripens when it learns to keep the body’s pace.