The Court Journal, 8th August 1835, pages 497-498
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD.
LINES SUGGESTED BY THE ENGRAVING OF
LANDSEER’S PICTURE.
BY L. E. L.
Come back, come back together,
All ye fancies of the past,
Ye days of April weather,
Ye shadows that are cast
By the haunted hours before!
Come back, come back, my childhood;
Thou art summoned by a spell
From the green leaves of the wild wood,
From beside the charmed well!
'Tis Red Riding-Hood, the darling,
The flower of fairy lore.
The fields were covered over
With colours, as she went;
Daisy, buttercup, and clover,
Below her footsteps bent.
Summer shed its shining store,
She was happy as she prest them
Beneath her little feet;
She plucked them and caress'd them,
They were so very sweet—
They had never seemed so sweet before,
To Red Riding-Hood, the darling,
The flower of fairy lore.
How the heart of childhood dances
Upon a sunny day!
It has its own romances,
And a wide, wide world have they!
A world where phantasie is king,
Made all of eager dreaming;
When once grown up and tall,
Now is the time for scheming,
Then we shall do them all!
Do such pleasant fancies spring
For Red Riding-Hood the darling,
The flower of fairy lore?
