'Think'st thou that I could bear to part With thee, and learn to halve my heart? Ah! were I severed from thy side, Where were thy friend--and who my guide? Years have not seen, Time shall not see, The hour that tears my soul from thee: Ev'n Azrael, from his deadly quiver When flies that shaft, and fly it must, That parts all else, shall doom for ever Our hearts to undivided dust! * * * * * What other can she seek to see Than thee, companion of her bower, The partner of her infancy? These cherished thoughts with life begun, Say, why must I no more avow?' Selim suggests that Zuleika should brave the world and fly with him: 'But be the Star that guides the wanderer, Thou! Thou, my Zuleika, share and bless my bark; The Dove of peace and promise to mine ark! Or, since that hope denied in worlds of strife, Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life! The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray! * * * * * Not blind to Fate, I see, where'er I rove, Unnumbered perils,--but one only love! Yet well my toils shall that fond breast repay, Though Fortune frown, or falser friends betray.' Zuleika, we are told, was the 'last of Giaffir's race.'[44] Selim tells her that 'life is hazard at the best,' and there is much to fear: 'Yes, fear! the doubt, the dread of losing thee. That dread shall vanish with the favouring gale; Which Love to-night has promised to my sail. No danger daunts the pair his smile hath blest, Their steps still roving, but their hearts at rest. With thee all toils are sweet, each clime hath charms; Earth--Sea alike--our world within our arms!' 'The Corsair' was written between December 18, 1813, and January 11, 1814. While it was passing through the press, Byron was at Newstead. He gives a little of his own spirit to Conrad, and all Mary's virtues to Medora--a name which was afterwards given to his child. Conrad