Fragment on the Back of the MS. of Canto I

I would to Heaven that I were so much clay,
As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling⁠—
Because at least the past were passed away,
And for the future⁠—(but I write this reeling,
Having got drunk exceedingly to-day,
So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling)
I say⁠—the future is a serious matter⁠—
And so⁠—for God’s sake⁠—hock and soda-water!

Where this text comes from

First published in Don Juan (1824). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1] [2]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-20.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/lord-byron_don-juan, epigraph-2.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (2)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L8.

Cite this poem

Lord Byron (1788–1824). “Fragment on the Back of the MS. of Canto I.” First published in Don Juan (1824). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/lord-byron/fragment-on-the-back-of-the-ms-of-canto-i/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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