Saturday, July 24, 2021

All tragedies are finish'd by a death, All comedies are ended by a marriage

 --- Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Third (h/t Diane Sieber)

Excerpt

All tragedies are finish'd by a death,

  All comedies are ended by a marriage;

The future states of both are left to faith,

   For authors fear description might disparage

The worlds to come of both, or fall beneath,

   And then both worlds would punish their miscarriage;

So leaving each their priest and prayer-book ready,

   They say no more of Death or of the Lady.