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.
[1] "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 28 February 1817.
"The Jolly Beggar" was published in Herd's Scottish Songs in 1776, decades before Byron's letter, with this refrain: And we'll gang nae mair a roving Sae late into the night, And we'll gang nae mair a roving, boys, Let the moon shine ne'er sae bright.
The poem serves as a basis for the chorus of the song "The Jolly Beggar" as recorded by the traditional Irish band Planxty, as well as the basis for the love leitmotif in Patrick Doyle's score for the film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where it is fully realized in the track "The Wedding Night".
The poem is also featured in John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic novel The Day of the Triffids, where it occurs when a blinded pianist commits suicide.