Landon in The Literary Gazette 1826/Lezione
Literary Gazette, 14th January, 1826, Page 26
ORIGINAL POETRY.
LEZIONE PER L’AMORE.
Where, oh, where's the chain to fling,
One that will chain Cupid's wing—
One that will have longer power
Than the April sun or shower?
Form it not of eastern gold—
Golden fetters never hold;
They may chain, but not confine,
Not allure—but only shine.
Neither form it all of bloom—
Never does Love find his tomb
Sudden, soon, as when he meets
Death amid unvarying sweets.
But if you would fling a chain,
And not fling it quite in vain,
Like a fairy, form a spell
Of all that is changeable;
Like the purple tints that deck
The gay peacock's sunny neck;
Or the many hues that play
In the colouring morning's ray.
Never let a hope appear
Without its companion, fear;
Only smile to sigh, and then
Change into a smile again.
Be to-day as sad and pale
As minstrel with his lovelorn tale;
But to-morrow gay as all
Your life had been a festival.
If a woman would secure
All that makes her reign endure—
And, alas! her reign must be
Ever most in fantasy—
Never let a curious eye
Gaze upon the heart too nigh—
Never let the veil be thrown
Quite aside, as all were known,
Of delight and tenderness
In the spirit's last recess;
And one spell—all spells above—
Never let her own her love.
L. E. L.