Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“ Lonely on the lonely sands—
⁠'Tis a woman's lot:
Only let her heart be won,
And her summer hour is done—
⁠Soon she is forgot;
Sad she strays by life's bleak shore,
Loving, but beloved no more! ”

“ She was in his numbers—when those numbers breathing
Of his country's glory—made it glorious more—
To its southern language long harmony bequeathing,
Haunting every wild wave dashing on its shore.
⁠Ay, the poet's music
⁠Is lovely as of yore.
Dream not that the love which haunts the poet's spirit
Is the common passion that sweetens daily earth:
From a world ethereal its nature must inherit
All the high imaginings that crowded round its birth ”

“ Figures and fancies that cell's white walls along.
⁠On the lip there is a murmur—
⁠It is the swan's last song.
Dark order of St. Dominick! thy shelter to the weary
Is like thy rule—cold, stern, unpitying in its aid;
Cold is general charity, lorn the cell and dreary—
Yet there the way-worn wretched one may rest the dying head;
Who would remember him—ah, who does remember—
He the ill-fated, yet the young and gifted one?
Grief and toil have quench'd life's once aspiring ember:
High heaven may have pity—but man for man has none! ”

“ Those small ivory feet are bare,
Rosy as the small shells are,
They are, than the feet, less fair
⁠On that sea-beat strand!
Wherefore doth the girl complain?
Wind and wave will hear in vain. ”

“ Heavily beneath his mail
Seems Earl Sigurd's breath to fail,
And his pale cheek is more pale,
⁠And his hand less steady.
Crimson are the sky and surge,
Stars are on th' horizon's verge,
⁠Night and Death are ready! ”

“ After hours may yet restore
To the cheek the rose it wore,
And, as it has smiled before,
⁠So the lip will smile.
Let them be however bright,
Never will they wear the light
⁠Of their native isle. ”

“ Is she who only hath a memory here.
She was so much a part of us, so cherished—
So young, that even love forgot to fear.
Now is her image paramount, it reigneth
With a sad strength that time may not subdue ”

“ SUBJECTS FOR PICTURES.—NO. IV.
I.
The Zegri Lady's Vigil.
Ever sits the Lady weeping—
Weeping night and day—
One perpetual vigil keeping,
Till life pass away,
⁠And she join the seven who sleep. ”