Lyric Poem · Love
When We Two Parted
by Lord Byron · 1816
When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow —
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.
They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me —
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well: —
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met —
In silence I grieve.
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee? —
With silence and tears.
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“When We Two Parted” by Lord Byron — quilloak.com/poems/when-we-two-parted
Quick facts
- Poem
- When We Two Parted
- Poet
- Lord Byron
- Published
- 1816
- Length
- 32 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Love, Sad
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 32 lines · 4 octaves
- Line length
- Lines run 4-6 syllables (median 5). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Lord Byron1788–1824
- Source record
- PoetryDBWhen We Two Parted by lord-byron, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1816
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 265ab1babca874a1…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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