THE EVERGREEN LEAF.
I
“Farewell!” exclaimed Rosa, “dear Roland away!
My father decrees it, and we must obey;
Yet though I complain not, and bow to his will;
In secret, in silence, I'll think of you still.”
II
“In dreams those dear features before me shall rise;
Your bright sunny hair, and your happy blue eyes:
My love defies all that the future can bring,
Like the evergreen leaf on the emerald ring.”
III
The maiden is borne to a far distant isle,
New friends court her favour, new lovers her smile.
Her tears are forgotten, a stranger is near
Who breathes the fond language of love in her ear!
IV
Jet black are his ringlets and dark is his brow;
Oh! where is her sunny hair'd favourite now?
Alas! is affection so fleeting a thing?
Unlike the green leaf on the emerald ring.
V
Can Rosa be faithless? No—dull are the eyes
Of the girl who detects not her lover's disguise:
He darkens the tint of his features in vain,
The expression so dear to her still must remain.
VI
No stranger is there, it is Roland she hears,
And answers his fond vows with eloquent tears.
Then say not that love is a frivolous thing,
'Tis the evergreen leaf on the emerald ring.
