Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Literary Souvenir, 1828/Adieu
THE ADIEU.
It was not in the winter, our loving lot was cast;
It was the time of roses—we plucked them as we passed.
T. Hood.
I.
A fair good-night to thee, love, a fair good-night to thee;
And pleasant be thy path, love, though it end not with me.
Liking light as ours, was never meant to last—
It was a moment's phantasy, and as such it hath past.
II.
We met in lighted halls, and our spirits took their tone;
Like other dreams of midnight, with colder morning flown;—
And thinkest thou to ever win a single tear from me?
Lightly won and lightly lost, love, I shed no tear for thee!
III.
Thy words were courtly flattery, such sink like morning dew;
But oh! love takes another tone, the tender and the true.
I knew thee light as foam that plays the ocean waves among,
I knew thee vain as ever gaze upon the mirror flung.
IV.
And he the light and vain one, for him there never wakes
That love for which a woman's heart will beat until it breaks;
But yet the spell was pleasant, though it be broken now,
Like shaking down loose blossoms from off the careless bough.
V.
They never came to fruit, and their sweet lives soon were o'er,
But we lived an hour beneath them, we never dreamed of more:
No vow was ever plighted, we had no farewell to say,
Gay were we when we met at first, and we parted just as gay.
VI.
Our last was even as our first—light, volatile and vain;
The dance was done, the song was sung, we never met again;—
There was little to remember, and nothing to regret,
Love touches not the flatterer, love chains not the coquette.
VII.
Twas of youth's fairy follies, by which no shade is cast,
One of its airy vanities, and like them it hath past.
Then a fair good-night to thee, love, a fair good-night the while,
I have no parting sigh to give, so take my parting smile!
L. E. L.