Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Amulet, 1835/The Festa of Madonna Dei Fiori
FESTA OF MADONNA DEI FIORI
|
THE FESTA OF MADONNA DEI FIORI.
BY L. E. L.
They gathered in that holy place,
A young and lovely band,
With banners wrought with sacred signs,
And flowers in each hand.
It was a summer festival
Worthy a summer sky,
That brought the fragrant and the fair
Upon that shrine to die.
Many a little foot had been
Amid the early dew,
While fresh the odour to each leaf,
Fresh colour to each hue.
And many a little brow had watched
For weeks some favourite flower,
Proud and impatient of its growth
For this auspicious hour.
And many a little heart had linked
Its deepest, dearest prayer,
And the fulfilment of its hope
With the sweet offerings there.
One bore a banner, where was wrought
The Virgin and her Son—
Her younger sister and herself
The broidery begun.
But she who held the banner now
Went on her way alone;
No sister shared the sacred task:—
Her sister's task was done!
As yet the grass was scarcely grown
Upon that bright young head;
As yet the tears were warm that fell
Above the early dead.
Poor child! how pale and sorrowful
She takes her silent way!
A prayer for the departed one
Is on her lips to-day.
But foremost come two fairy ones
With dark eyes filled with light,
The very roses that they bear
Can scarcely be more bright.
The youngest bears a single plant,
One that herself has nursed;
A far exotic from the South,
The fairest and the first.
And they have tender hopes and fears
To claim the votive vow;
And parents, for whose precious sake
Their prayers are ready now.
Blest be their lovely pilgrimage,
Although they seek a shrine
Hallowed by a believing faith
Not unto us divine!
No banners in our humbler church
Are waved, no flowers are strown;
The sacrifice we offer up
Must in the heart be shown.
And that is much if truly given:
Our vanity and pride,
Our empty hopes, our fair deceits,
Must there be all denied.
Those children, with an earnest faith,
Are offering early flowers;
Methinks their simple truth and love
Might teach and strengthen ours.