So, we'll go no more a roving

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"So, we'll go no more a roving" is a poem, written by (George Gordon) Lord Byron (1788–1824), and included in a letter to Thomas Moore on February 28, 1817. Moore published the poem in 1830 as part of Letters and Journals of Lord Byron.

It evocatively describes the fatigue of age conquering the restlessness of youth. Byron wrote the poem at age twenty-nine.

So we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

In the letter to Thomas Moore, the poem is preceded by an account of its genesis. "At present, I am on the invalid regimen myself. The Carnival--that is, the latter part of it, and sitting up late o' nights--had knocked me up a little. But it is over--and it is now Lent, with all its abstinence and sacred music... Though I did not dissipate much upon the whole, yet I find "the sword wearing out the scabbard," though I have but just turned the corner of twenty nine."

The poem seems to have been suggested in part by the refrain of a Scottish song known as "The Jolly Beggar." The Jolly Beggar was published in Herd's "Scots Songs" in 1776, 41 years before Byron's letter, and goes partially thus:

He took the lassie in his arms, and to bed he ran,
O hooly, hooly wi' me, Sir, ye'll waken our goodman!
And we'll go no more a roving
Sae late into the night,
And we'll gang nae mair a roving, boys,
Let the moon shine ne'er sae bright.
And we'll gang nae mair a roving.

There is also the traditional sea shanty "The Maid of Amsterdam," which includes verses and chorus such as:

She placed her hand upon my knee,
Mark well what I do say!
She placed her hand upon my knee,
I said "Young miss, you're rather free."
I'll go no more a roving with you fair maid!

A rovin', a rovin',
Since rovin's been my ru-i-in,
I'll go no more a roving
With you fair maid!

The poem appears as "Go No More A-Roving" on the 2004 Leonard Cohen album, Dear Heather. It is also recorded by Joan Baez on her 1964 Joan Baez/5 album, and by Mike Westbrook on his 1998 The Orchestra of Smith's Academy album. Richard Dyer-Bennet recorded his own setting, with slightly altered text, on the 1955 album "Richard Dyer-Bennet 1". The poem is also a centerpiece of "...And The Moon Be Still As Bright" from Ray Bradbury's novel, The Martian Chronicles.