Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Heath’s Book of Beauty, 1833/Leonora

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

LEONORA

Painted by T. A. WoolnothEngraved by T. Woolnoth

LEONORA.

She was the loveliest lady of our line,
But of a cold proud heauty;....
Yet gentle blushes had been on that cheek,
And tenderness within those dark blue eyes.
Sometimes, in twilight and in solitude,
There was a mournful song she used to sing—
But only then.

Farewell! and when the charm of change
    Has faded, as all else will fade;
When Joy, a wearied bird, begins
    To droop the wing, to seek the shade;—

When thine own heart at length has felt,
    What thou hast made another feel—
The hope that sickens to despair,
    The wound that time may sear, not heal;—

When thou shalt pine for some fond heart
    To beat in answering thine again;—
Then, false one! think once more on me,
    And sigh to know it is in vain.