Landon in The New Monthly 1831/Good Night
For works with similar titles, see Good Night.
"GOOD NIGHT!"
Good night!—what a sudden shadow
Has fallen upon the air,
I look not around the chamber,
I know he is not there.
Sweetness has left the music,
And gladness left the light;
My cheek has lost its colour,
How could he say, Good night!
And why should he take with him
The happiness he brought?
Alas! such fleeting pleasure
Is all too dearly bought:
If thus, my heart stop beating,
My spirits lose their tone,
And a gloom, like night, surround me,
The moment he is gone.
Like the false fruit of the lotos,
Love alters every taste:—
We loathe the life we're leading,
The spot where we are plac'd.
We live upon to-morrow,
Or, we dream the past again;
But what avails that knowledge?
It ever comes in vain. L. E. L.