home salon writing writers University of Adelaide contact Byron & Sladdin The poetical works of Lord Byron (Oxford Uni Press 1930) (Stanzas for music) I. They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past, And memory wakes the thoughts that bless: They rose the first —they set the last; II. And all that memory loves the most Was once our only Hope to be, And all that Hope adored and lost Hath melted into memory. III. Alas! It is delusion all: The future cheats us from afar, Nor can we be what we recall, Nor dare we think on what we are. Striving As I squat peeing, I see a red ant, salacious with a honey-tang prospect, encircling the monolith of a sweet bee carcass. So too I but and bunt. Around my own intangible trove; A realisation of self; My sweeter obscured core. Grappling, shouldering the weight, feeling for a new hold. Will I have the ant's unswerving tenacity? ©A M Sladdin Top