Lord Byron writes poetry for Jane and Vincent

In Valour and Vanity, I have a scene in which Lord Byron makes up some verses for Jane and Vincent. The existing poem that would work was from 1816, and the novel is set in 1817. Since the scene needed something that he had not yet written, that meant I either needed a poem from later in his career or… I needed to write something.

For your amusement, here is my attempt at a Bryonic poem which is built upon his The Prophecy of Dante, Canto IV, with many lines stolen outright.

The Glamourist

The Glamourist’s art might seem to deceive,
     Yet what is Glamour for, but to create
     From naught save illusory light; and weave
A new ephemeral life out of fate–
     To be Prometheus and swiftly thieve,
     The noble fire from Heaven, and then, too late,
Find all the pleasure has been paid with pain,
     And vultures to the heart of the bestower,
     Who, having lavished his high gift in vain,
Lies chained to his lone rock by the sea-shore?
     So be it: we can bear.—But thus all know
     Who have beheld an o’ermastering glamour
One noble thread might a whole life may show,
     Or deify the aether till it shine
     With beauty so surpassing all below,
That they who kneel to Idols so divine
     Break no commandment, for high Heaven’s there
     Transfused, transfigurated: and the line
Of Glamour, which is woven through the air
     With Thought and Beings of our thought reflected,
     Can do no more: the glamourist may share
The palm, he shares the peril, and dejected
     Faints o’er the labour unapproved—Beware!
     Despair and Genius are too oft connected.