Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“ Armed knights, and robed lords, and lovely dames;
And, like their shadows, on the ground beneath
Move knights and ladies, each as fair and proud.
Red wine and golden cups are on the board,
And their gay benison is Amirald's health,
The castle's younger lord. And many an eye
Shed its blue morning on the graceful youth,
And many marvelled at the silent mood
In which he turned away from the bright dance
To listen to some minstrel. Oh, the heart
Knows not the power of music till it loves!—
And Amirald stood lost in gentle thoughts ”

“ Her bright curls hang neglected , and her cheek—
Has sickness wasted thus its bloom away?
Or is it the heart's withering? She has pined
In that worst of all solitudes—the blank
That comes when love's enchanted world decays
Into reality. She was forgotten—
But she could not forget, nor even reproach.
His name still lingered on her lute, and still
The chain he gave was treasured next her heart. ”

“ No landscape, with its grapes and leaves and flowers
Revelling in summer, but a convent cell—
With its dim grating, and its crucifix
Beside the skull and hour-glass. And here lies
Upon the pallet the false hunter's love.
Death has most awful lessons! It is sad,
Aye, strange, to see even the aged die;
But about youth there is a confidence
In life, that makes it terrible. But here,
Fear is forgot in sorrow ”

“ Her rose-bud mouth to mine was prest—
Scarf, curl, and kiss, are with me now.
That kiss has been kept like the leaves
Of the young rose, or ere the sun,
Like love, has opened the sweet flower,
It fades while it is shining on. ”

“ Lord Arnold led his vassals to the war,
And Adeline was left to solitude—
The worst of solitude, of home and heart.
If I must part from those whom I have loved,
Let me, too, part from where they were beloved!
It wrings the heart to see each thing the same;
Tread over the same steps; and then to find
The difference in the heart. It is so sad—
So very lonely—to be the sole one
In whom there is a sign of change! - - -
There are two words to tell the warrior's course,
Valour and Victory. But fortune changed,
And Arnold was a prisoner at last. ”

“ And then he thought how life would glide,
In such a home, and with such a bride,
Like a glad tale told to the lute's soft tone,—
Never hath happiness dwelt alone.
And swifter he urged his courser's flight,
When he thought on who was waiting that night. ”

“ My heart had loved, to deem that aught
Like falsehood could be possible.
Farewell then, Zaide, with that farewell
To all that bears a woman's name:
Heart, harp, and sword, were vowed to thee,
They'll never know another's claim. ”

“ Where the villa stood he had built for his Love:
With its pillars and marble colonnade,
Its bright fountain beneath the palm-tree's shade;
Fair statues and pictured porticos,
Where the air came sweet from the gardens of rose;
Silver lamps; and vases filled
With perfumed waters, from odours distilled ”

“ There's not a cloud upon the sky,
The wind is low like thine own sigh;
The azure heaven is veined with light,
The water is as calm and bright
As I have sometimes seen it lie
Beneath a sunny Indian sky. ”

“ Supporting the thick grapes which stretch across
From each tree to the next in rich festoons
Of green and purple drapery. Far behind
A river loses itself amid green hills;
And on its banks there stands a hunter youth:
White plumes are in the cap, which only press
On one side his dark curls. The graceful boy
Has one hand raised to the blue sky above,
As calling the fair sun to hear his words
And witness to their truth; and his bright eyes
Are filled with passionate eloquence, and gaze
On the soft eyes that now are fixed on his
Oh! ”

“ As every breath were gasped! Ah this,
Alas, is what love ever is!
False or unhappy, twin to sorrow,
Forced Hope's deceiving lights to borrow,
Gilding in joy a little way,
Doubly to lead the heart astray. ”

“ Gardens whose fountains were of liquid gold;
Trees with their ruby fruit and silver leaves,—
Where are ye now?
Alas! alas! the times are fled
Of magic gift or spell;
No Fairy aids true lovers now,
Let them love ne'er so well. ”

“ The heart love leaves looks back ever;
The heart where he is dwelling, never.
Yet as her last step left the strand,
Gheraldi then might feel her hand
Grow cold, and tremble in his own:
He watched her lip, its smile was flown ”

“ And welcome is their tale of death,
For I have said farewell to thee!
When first we met, I saw thee all
A girl's imagining could feign;
I did not dream of loving thee,
Still less of being loved again. ”

“ I may not say that you were false,
I never had one vow from thee;
But I have often seen thine eye
Look as it loved to look on me.
And when you spoke to me, your voice
Would always take a softer tone ”

“ For, by daylight, bud nor bloom
Smiles amid the island gloom.
All is desolate and drear,
As no spring were in the year:
But beneath night's shadowy wing
Violets and roses spring;
Perfume floats upon the air,
Myrtle boughs are waving there;
Stars shine in their beauty forth,
Meteors glisten from the north,
Rode by radiant shapes that seem
Creatures made of bloom and beam,
With their hair and plumes' gay dyes
Glorious as the morning skies.
Seldom hath a mortal eye
Looked upon their revelry ”

“ I too am changed, I scarce know why,
Can feel each flagging pulse decay.
And youth and health and visions high
Melt like a wreath of snow away.
Time cannot, sure, have wrought the ill,
Tho’ worn in this world's sickening strife ”

“ Till she came where some cypresses gathered around;
She entered the funeral shade of the dell,
And looked on the depth of each haunted well.
Thickly around did the tall grass wave,
Like the green dank growth that springs on the grave—
There it was that the charm must be done. ”

“ When that I say that dream was false,
I scarce need say—'twas love.
And thus could change avail to rend
Affection's early band;
Ah! she who builds her hope on love,
Has built indeed on sand. ”

“ Drew his cloak round her, lest the dew should fall
Upon her fragile beauty. They were gone—
And Arnold threw him on the turf, which still
Retained the pressure of her fairy feet—
Then started wildly from the ground, and fled
As life and death were on his speed. His towers
Were but a little distant from the sea;
And ere the morning broke, Arnold was tossed
Far over the blue wave. He did not go,
As the young warrior goes, with hope and pride,
As he once went ”

“ And mountain-torrent—and black woods, where dwell
The dark banditti; so that we might prize
Still more the quiet of our own calm home.
Our garden should be beautiful—but ours
The only hands that made it beautiful. ”

“ Oh, who—reposed on some fond breast,
Love's own delicious place of rest—
Reading faith in the watching eyes,
Feeling the heart beat with its sighs,
Could know regrets, or doubts, or cares,
That we had bound our fate to theirs! ”

“ It was one autumn evening that he reached
A little valley in the Apennine:
It lay amid the heights—a resting place
Of quiet and deep beauty. On one side
A forest of a thousand pines arose,
Darkened with many winters ”

“ Oh, there are evil moments in our life,
When but a thought, a word, a look, has power
To dash the cup of happiness aside,
And stamp us wretched! ”

“ My bark is on the ocean riding,
Like a spirit o'er it gliding:
Maiden, wilt thou come—and be
Queen of my fair ship and me? ”

“ So very lonely—to be the sole one
In whom there is a sign of change! ”