L: Lord Byron and Love

I'm having fun on this A to Z Blogging Challenge. Remember that I've added my own personal little challenge for all my readers. I'm leaving clues throughout the month about a secret message. The first person to discover the secret message and leave it in a comment will receive a picture book. Have fun.

Lord Byron is a famous British poet from the early 1800's considered to be one of the great Romantic poets. The poem below is such a delight for the mouth! I LOVE reading it aloud. Perfect as prep work for picture book writers, rhyming or not.

I can never get people to understand that poetry is the expression of excited passion, and that there is no such thing as a life of passion any more than a continuous earthquake, or an eternal fever. Besides, who would ever shave themselves in such a state?     - Lord Byron, in a letter to Thomas Moore, 5 July 1821

By the Rivers of Babylon We Sat Down and Wept, 1815

                                        1
                         We sat down and wept by the waters
                             Of Babel, and thought of the day
                         When our foe, in the hue of his slaughters,
                             Made Salem's high places his prey;
                         And ye, oh her desolate daughters!
                             Were scattered all weeping away.

                                        2
                         While sadly we gazed on the river
                             Which rolled on in freedom below,
                         They demanded the song; but, oh never
                             That triumph the stranger shall know!
                         May this right hand be withered for ever,
                             Ere it string our high harp for the foe!

                                        3
                         On the willow that harp is suspended,
                             Oh Salem!  its sound should be free;
                         And the hour when thy glories were
                                     ended
                             But left me that token of thee:
                         And ne'er shall its soft tones be blended
                             With the voice of the spoiler by me!

Keep on keepin' on...