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Literary Gazette, 28th December, 1822, Page 825 (cont.)
XI. —The Emerald Ring—a Superstition.[1]
It is a gem which hath the power to show
If plighted lovers keep their faith or no:
If faithful, it is like the leaves of spring;
If faithless, like those leaves when withering.
Take back again your emerald gem,
There is no colour in the stone;
It might have graced a diadem,
But now its hue and light are gone!
Take back your gift, and give me mine—
The kiss that sealed our last love vow;
Ah, other lips have been on thine,—
My kiss is lost and sullied now!
The gem is pale, the kiss forgot,
And, more than either, you are changed;
But my true love has altered not,
My heart is broken—not estranged! L. E. L.
- ↑ This poem appears in The improvisatrice and Other Poems (1824), as 'The Ring. A Superstition.'
