Landon in The Literary Gazette 1823/Female Head 2

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Literary Gazette, 3rd May 1823, Page 286

The Female Head on the left of “the Hours." ^[1]

A dream of saddest beauty: one pale smile
Its light upon the blue-veined forehead shed,
As Love had lingered there one little while,
Robbed the cheek of its colour, and then fled;
Yet leaving a sweet twilight shade, which said
There had been sunshine once. Alas! the bloom,
The light, the hope, at Love's shrine offered!
Yet all in vain,—that altar is a tomb
Of broken hearts, its oracle but words of doom!

L.E. L.

1. See poem on previous page. Unless a catalogue exists, it is unlikely that this work can be identified.