Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) from Flowers of Loveliness, 1838/To Victoria
The opening poem as it appears in the review in The Literary Gazette, 21st October
1837
"To Victoria.
Violet, grace of the vernal year!
Offer'd be thou to this spring-like reign!
Is not thy tint to that ladye dear,
Whose banner of blue is the lord of the main?
Ivy we twine of changeless green,
Constant for ever in leaf and bough;
So may the heart of our maiden queen
Be always verdant and fresh as now.
Carnation, laced with many a streak
Of blooming red on its leaflets bright,
May be a type of her mantling cheek,
Blent with a brow of pearly white.
Tansy, though humble an herb it be,
Look not upon it with scornful eye;
On virtue, that lurks in low degree,
A glance should fall kind from those on high.
Olive, thy branch, dove-borne o'er the foam,
Was a sign for the surges of death to cease;
So, from the lips of our dove should come
The soft but the sure command of peace.
Roses of England, ceasing from fight,
Twine round her brow in whose veins are met
The princely blood those roses unite
'In the veins of the noblest Plantagenet.'
Iris, to thee, the maid of the bow,
That promises hope, her name has given;
Join, then, the wreath at her feet we throw,
Who beams as a symbol of hope from heaven.
Anemone, flower of the wind! is the last
We cull,—and our garland is now complete:
Gentle the current, and soft be the blast,
Which Victoria, the queen of the ocean, shall meet!"