Landon in The Literary Gazette 1825/Fragment 5 1
Literary Gazette, 18th June, 1825, Page 396
ORIGINAL POETRY.
FRAGMENTS - FlFTH SERIES.
Gleamings of poetry, if I may give
That name of passion, beauty, and of grace,
To visionings like these, oh! if not sweet
To others, yet how very sweet to me.
Fancies that gather in the silent hour,
When I have watched the stars write on the sky
In characters of light; have seen the moon
Come like a veiled beauty from the east,
While, like a hymn, the wind swelled on mine ear,
Telling soft tidings of the rose: or when
My heart has drunk sweet music, whose low tones
Were as Love's own; when I have closed some page,
Whose tale made sorrows lovelier than smiles.
And imaged to myself all phantasies
That wait on love; thought on its many griefs,
Been jealous and forsaken, slighted, wronged,
Until almost each mood became mine own;—
Or when, before the painter's glorious works,
I have bowed down in my idolatry:
These are the thoughts to which my soul has turned,
When cold neglect or scorn have wrung or searched.
Oh, there are moments when my heart has dreamed
Of things which cannot be—the bright, the pure,
That all of which my heart can only dream.
And I have mused upon my gift of song,
And deeply felt its beauty, and disdained
The pettiness of praise to which, at times,
My soul has bowed; and I have scorned myself
For that my cheek could burn, my heart could beat
At idle words. And yet, it is in vain
For the full heart to press back every pulse
Wholly upon itself. Aye, fair as are
The dreams that bless a poet's solitude:
There must be something more for happiness—
They seek communion. But, no more of this.
Yet such wild snatches of my lute belong
To hours like these, when that impassioned thoughts
Glance o'er my spirits—thoughts that are like Light,
Or Love, or Hope, in their effects.