Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“ While red and fitful gleams come from the binacle,
The only light on board to guide us—where?
⁠My friends, my absent friends!
⁠Far from my native land, and far from you.
On one side of the ship, the moonbeams shimmer
Inluminous vibrations sweeps the sea,
But where the shadow falls, a strange pale glimmer
Seems, glow-worm like, amid the waves to be.
All that the spirit keeps of thought and feeling,
Takes visionary hues from such an hour ”

“ This star sinks below the horizon in certain latitudes. I watched it sink lower and lower every night, till at last it disappeared.
A star has left the kindling sky—
A lovely northern light—
How many planets are on high,
But that has left the night. ”

“ To fix the past within the heart of hearts.
Absence is full of memory, it teaches
The value of all old familiar things;
The strengthener of affection, while it reaches
O'er the dark parting, with an angel's wings. ”