Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Literary Souvenir, 1826/Tomb
THE TOMB OF ROMEO AND JULIET.
Ay, moralize on Love, and deem
Its life but as an April gleam,—
A thing of sunshine and of showers,
Of dying leaves and falling flowers.
Who would not bear the darkest sphere
That such a rainbow comes to cheer?
Ay, turn and wail above the tomb
Where sleep the wreck of youth and bloom;
And deem it quite enough to say,—
Thus Beauty and thus Love decay.
But I must look upon this spot
With feelings thy cold heart has not;
Those gentle thoughts that consecrate,
Even while they weep, the lover's fate.
I thought upon the star-lit hour,
When leant the maid 'mid leaf and flower,
And blushed and smiled the tale to hear,
Poured from her dark-eyed cavalier;
And yet, I too must moralize,
Albeit with gentler sympathies,
Of all my own fond heart can tell
Of love's despair, and love's farewell—
Its many miseries, its tears
Like lava, not like dew,— its fears,
That make hope painful,— then its trust,
So often trampled in the dust;
Neglected, blighted, and betrayed,
A sorrow and a mockery made.
Then change and adverse fortune, all
That binds and keeps sweet Love in thrall.
Oh, surely, surely, it were best
To be just for one moment blest;
Just gaze upon one worshipped eye,
And know yourself beloved, and die!
L. E. L.