Landon in The Literary Gazette 1835/The Earth’s Division
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Literary Gazette, 10th January, 1835, Page 28
The Earth's Division.
The fair earth, it shall be for all,
Divide it at your need!
So, in his high Olympian hall,
The starry Jove decreed.
Each hurried at the mighty word—
The merchant swept the main,
The peasant drove the lowing herd
And sowed the golden grain.
The hunter took the glad green wood,
The soldier drew his sword;
"I am," quoth he, "by title good,
A universal lord."
The miser's wealth was little known,
He hid it from the light;
The king said, "Take ye all their own,
And pay me for the right."
When, lo! the poet came at last,
Pale watcher of the air;
The spoil was shared—the lots were cast,
His, only, was not there.
He flung him at the feet of Jove,
And cried, "What wrong is done
To him whom thou wert wont to love,
Thy true and favourite son!"
"Blame thou not me," the God replied,
"Some land of dreams too long,
When earth was given to divide,
Has kept thee and thy song."
"I watched thy spirit's mighty law,
Control the ocean's flow;
I gazed, forgetting in mine awe
All that was mine below."
"Ah!" said the god, "beneath my throne
Is given earth and sea;
But the high heaven is still mine own,
And there I welcome thee!"
L. E. L.