Landon in The Literary Gazette 1825/Fragment 5 3

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

For works with similar titles, see Fragment (Letitia Elizabeth Landon).

Literary Gazette, 18th June, 1825, Page 396

Now for the gay, the cold, the free,
    To suit mine altered mood—
Oh, any thing but thoughts of thee,
    Or aught but solitude.

And surely, amid mirth and light,
    My spirit back may fling
The clouds before its upward flight,
    The weight upon its wing.

For the first time I threw aside
    In anger my loved lute;
When before, ever, had I tried
    My chords, and found them mute.

I sought the lighted hall, but there
    The spell still on me lay;
Brightness and song came on the air,
    They drove it not away.

My step lagged in the saraband;
    Unheard, gay words passed by;
The flowers dropt from my listless hand,
    The tears rushed to mine eye.

A shadow o'er my spirit came;
    It was in vain I strove.
What was it? My heart nam'd a name:
    I strove no more—'twas Love.