Landon in The Literary Gazette 1826/Past 1
Literary Gazette, 4th February, 1826, Page 77
ORIGINAL POETRY.
THE PAST.
"Hope may charm Love, but Memory proves it."
My spirit may not turn away
From Love, that was its first and last;
With thoughts the future cannot bring,
I turn and dwell upon the past.
You do not know how I have loved—
You do not know what I have lost;—
My bark of venturing hope is wreck'd—
My own heart only knows the cost.
I may look on a face as fair
As that for ever from me gone:
However fair it be, can I
Look as I look'd upon that one?
No—ere you bid me love again,
Love as I once loved, you must bring
The passionate feelings of my youth,
The warmth and dew that made it spring.
Love is divine in our belief
Of its eternity—how vain,
When we have known that Love can die,
To think that he can live again!
Even if I could dream once more,
What have I left to offer now?
A heart which knows that it can change—
A sullied faith—a broken vow,
But this is vain:—go search the seas,
And bring Oblivion's wave with thee,
Its deepest one:—then thou may'st speak,
And only then, of love to me.
My heart is full of other days,—
And its dark bodings are as those
Felt by the Elders of the land,
When Judah's second Temple rose:
Those who had look'd upon the first,
How could they think the second fair?
They only turn'd aside, and wept
Another temple should be there.
Then never name Love's name to me,
Unless the gentle word is said
As Pity names a buried friend,—
As Sorrow murmurs of the dead.
For love and death are grown to me
Associate terms; I only crave
From one the gift of memory,
And from the other of a grave.
IOLE.