Landon in The Literary Gazette 1822/Emerald

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

For other versions of this work, see The Emerald Ring. A Superstition.

103

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.

1. This poem appears in The improvisatrice and Other Poems (1824), as 'The Ring. A Superstition.'