Landon in The Literary Gazette 1822/Peri
98
Literary Gazette, 14th December, 1822, Pages 793-794
VIII. - The Peri.
It was a bower of roses, linked by wreaths
Of the golden jasmine, loved by the bee
Whose summer home it is, the flower that breathes
Upon the Indian girl's dark hair, when she
Braids her long tresses for festivity.
Beside these sweet and sunny chains, unclose
Soft leaves, some white as foam-flakes of the sea,
Some veined with pink; but more than all there glows
The hue-like maiden's cheek, when love calls forth the rose.—
Above the blossoms hung an airy form,
Upborne by pinions of an azure dye,
Playing around like light; her cheek is warm
With rich carnation, and that starry eye
Has the bright colour of the noon-tide sky.
Her look is passionless: no deeper hue
Varies that blush, and as she floats, a sigh
Of odours, and a fresher fall of dew,
Welcome the waving music from those wings of blue.
L. E. L.