The Improvisatrice; and Other Poems/The Emerald Ring

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

For other versions of this work, see The Emerald Ring. A Superstition.

THE EMERALD RING.

A SUPERSTITION.

It is a gem which hath the power to show
If plighted lovers keep their faith, or no:
If faithful, it is like the leaves of spring;
If faithless, like those leaves when withering.
    Take back your emerald gem,
        There is no colour in the stone;
    It might have graced a diadem,
        But now its hue and light are gone!

    Take back your gift, and give me mine—
        The kiss that sealed our last love-vow;
    Ah, other lips have been on thine,—
        My kiss is lost and sullied now!
    The gem is pale, the kiss forgot,
        And, more than either, you are changed;
    But my true love has altered not,
        My heart is broken—not estranged!