Landon in The Literary Gazette 1825/Song 4

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

For works with similar titles, see Song (Letitia Elizabeth Landon).

Literary Gazette, 14th May, 1825, Page 316

ORIGINAL POETRY.
SONG.

I have a summer gift,
    A sunny gift for thee:
See this white vase, where blooms
    A beautiful rose tree.

And on its crimson leaves
    Your heart must moralize,
For love a lesson takes
    Of every leaf that dies.

First you will prize the gift
    In all its scented pride;
Its newness then will pass,
    And 'twill be flung aside.

Then autumn rains will stain
    Its bloom with a dark token;
The plant will perish then,
    And the white vase be broken.

Will not Love's tale be told
    In the fate of the rose tree!
Such was at first your love,
    Then your neglect of me.⁠L. E. L.