Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) from Flowers of Loveliness, 1838/Mignonette
MIGNETTE
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Transcribed from F. J. Sypher
MIGNONETTE
Thou fairy flower! how lovely
Thy blossoms seem to be!
Thou art the summer’s darling,
And such thou art to me:
Thou bringest back old fancies,
And I am like a child;
Alas, alas! my childhood!
Where art thou now exiled?
Art thou amid these blossoms,
Lull’d with their breathings sweet;
Too much of unmarked beauty
Lies hidden at our feet:
We hurry on, too careless
Of many lovely things;
’Tis accident that often
The dearest pleasure brings.
Sweet flowers! are ye from childhood,
Or fairy land, or both?
So fresh are still the fancies
That linger round your growth.
With what an eager fondness
I leant your leaves above!
Oh! in our life’s beginning,
The heart is full of love!
We have a world within us,
Unwasted and unchilled;
And we long to share the gladness,
With which ourselves are filled:
’Tis life’s most bitter lesson,
That we must leave behind
Each warm and generous impulse,
That lighted once the mind.
We grow too cold and careless,
As after years come on;
The fanciful is vanished,
The beautiful is gone.
Where are the old affections,
That once appeared so true?
And if we could, we cannot,
Their once sweet life renew.
It is a mournful memory,
The memory of the past;
Each year a deeper darkness
Is on our pathway cast.
Ah! ye darling flowers of summer!
Would ye could bid depart
The shadow on my spirit,
The coldness at my heart.