Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Cabinet of Modern Art, 1837/La Rosa Parlante
LA ROSA PARLANTE
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LA ROSA PARLANTE.
BY MISS L. E. LANDON.
I.
I breathe on the roses I offer to thee,—
Every leaf that uncloses says something from me;
They come from our garden—that summer world where
The soft blossoms harden to cherry and pear,
Where fruit and where flowers together unfold,
And the morning’s bright hours call the bee to his gold!
II.
On the wreath that I bind thee our summer has shone,
Ah! where will it find thee—afar and alone!
The walls that have bound thee are dusky and high,
And dark roofs are round thee that shut out the sky,—
But the roses I gather will bring thee again
Our valley’s soft weather, its sunshine and rain.
III.
When art thou returning—how long wilt thou roam!
The wealth thou art earning is not worth thy home.
The lark’s lightest singing awakes me from sleep
That thine image was bringing—I waken and weep!
By the prayers that attend thee—the fond hearts that yearn,
Let the roses I send, say—“return, love, return!”
IV.
To thy heart let them enter!—’mid care and ’mid toil
Hath its innermost centre one spot without soil—
Where the cold world is measured by truth not its own,
And my image is treasured—loved—loving and lone!
Though life have encrusted its rust on the shrine,
That heart may be trusted—I know it by mine!