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

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

GERALDINE

Painted by F. Stone⁠Engraved by J. Thomson

GERALDINE.

Lonely and deep as the fountain when springing
    From its earliest birthplace beneath the dark pines,
When first mid the wild flowers around it goes singing,
    When first on its waters the red morning shines:

So lonely, so deep, is the love which is cherish'd,
    Silent and sacred, Earl Surrey, for thee;
All lighter and meaner affections have perish'd—
    Life now has only but one love for me.

I share with thee every thought that delights me—
    I read, it is only to tell thee again:
I have not a feeling on earth but unites me
    To thee, be it intellect, pleasure, or pain.

I lean o'er the rose when the night-dews are weeping,
    And deem its leaves written with sweet words of thine;
I see thy bold falcon through mid-heaven sweeping,
    And wish it could bear thee a message of mine.

And yet I am mournful—I think of our morrow,
    And my heart fills with nameless and shadowy fears:
The heart has its omens, and mine are of sorrow—
    I know that our future has anguish and tears.

I see the clouds pass o'er the stars, and my spirit
    Grows dark as the terrors which round it are thrown:
Ah, Surrey! whatever my lot may inherit,
    I care not, so suffering but reach me alone.