Quote#Art
'Twas thine own genius gave the final blow
Quote byLord Byron · 1788–1824
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), Line 826. A number of authors have addressed this common motif of an eagle shot with an eagle-feather arrow.
English (original)
'Twas thine own genius gave the final blow, And help'd to plant the wound that laid thee low: So the struck eagle, stretch'd upon the plain, No more through rolling clouds to soar again, View'd his own feather on the fatal dart, And wing'd the shaft that quiver'd in his heart.
— Lord Byron
More from Lord Byron
When we two parted In silence and tears, Half brokenhearted, To sever for years.
I only know we loved in vain; I only feel — farewell! farewell!
When age chills the blood, when our pleasures are past— For years fleet away with the wings of the dove— The dearest remembrance will still be the last, Our sweetest memorial the first kiss of love.
Because He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow? I judge but by the fruits—and they are bitter— Which I must feed on for a fault not mine.
Farewell! if ever fondest prayer For other's weal avail'd on high, Mine will not all be lost in air, But waft thy name beyond the sky.
In secret we met In silence I grieve, That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee After long years,