Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“ And that old dame hath tale and song
Wherewith to while the night.
They are happy beside that lowly hearth;
For by her love to that child,
That aged woman, 'mid care and grief,
To existence is reconciled. ”

“ When fade the flowers beneath his feet,
The sunshine from his wings!
When many a bitter thought is writ
Within the altered mind,
The faithless friend, the hope betrayed,
The look and word unkind. ”

“ How heavy over each dry stalk,
Droops every languid head!
They are not worth my keeping now—
She flung them on the ground—
Some strewed the earth, and some the wind
Went scattering idly round. ”