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Landon in The Literary Gazette 1824/Reverse

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2260034PoemsThe Reverse.1824Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Literary Gazette, 10th April, 1824, Page 236


THE REVERSE.

Farewell, farewell, thou heartless one!
    I marvel now how it could be,
That my heart's deepest tenderness
    Was vowed so utterly to Thee.

Marvel, ah, no! I must not look
    Upon that darkly arching brow,—
I must not meet that liquid eye,
    Nor gaze upon that neck of snow.

Or I shall marvel at my hope,
    My wish, my will, to break thy chain—
Watch thy surpassing loveliness,
    And be thy spell-bound slave again.

I could have pardoned Thee, if love—
    Some other love—had thwarted mine;
I know too well his wildest power,
    Not to have felt for it, if thine.

But thou art all of vanity,
    And I may not forgive—forget
That my heart's deepest pulse has been
    Trifled with by a light coquette. L. E. L.