The Venetian bracelet the lost Pleiad, a history of the lyre, and other poems. By L. E. L. [i.e. Landon] |
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 | The Venetian bracelet |  |
239
THE WREATH.
Nay, fling not down those faded flowers,
Too late they're scatter'd round;
And violet and rose-leaf lie
Together on the ground.
Too late they're scatter'd round;
And violet and rose-leaf lie
Together on the ground.
How carefully this very morn
Those buds were cull'd and wreathed!
And, mid the cloud of that dark hair,
How sweet a sigh they breathed!
Those buds were cull'd and wreathed!
And, mid the cloud of that dark hair,
How sweet a sigh they breathed!
240
And many a gentle word was said
Above their morning dye,—
How that the rose had touch'd thy cheek,
The violet thine eye.
Above their morning dye,—
How that the rose had touch'd thy cheek,
The violet thine eye.
Methinks, if but for memory,
I should have kept these flowers;
Ah! all too lightly does thy heart
Dwell upon vanish'd hours.
I should have kept these flowers;
Ah! all too lightly does thy heart
Dwell upon vanish'd hours.
Already has thine eager hand
Stripp'd yonder rose-hung bough;
The wreath that bound thy raven curls
Thy feet are on it now.
Stripp'd yonder rose-hung bough;
The wreath that bound thy raven curls
Thy feet are on it now.
241
That glancing smile, it seems to say
“Thou art too fanciful:
What matters it what roses fade,
While there are more to cull?”
“Thou art too fanciful:
What matters it what roses fade,
While there are more to cull?”
Ay, I was wrong to ask of thee
Such gloomy thoughts as mine:
Thou in thy Spring, how shouldst thou dream
Of Autumn's pale decline?
Such gloomy thoughts as mine:
Thou in thy Spring, how shouldst thou dream
Of Autumn's pale decline?
Young, lovely, loved,—oh! far from thee
Life's after-dearth and doom;
Long ere thou learn how memory clings
To even faded bloom!
Life's after-dearth and doom;
Long ere thou learn how memory clings
To even faded bloom!
| The Venetian bracelet | |