Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Literary Souvenir, 1828/Ballad
BALLAD.
I.
My ship is weighing from the land,
My prow points o'er the sea,
Yet here I linger on the strand,
To bid farewell to thee.
II.
Farewell thou lovely islander;
I only ask for mine,
A boon a princess might confer,
A single look of thine.
III.
I do not ask for sigh or smile,
A smile I could not brook;
A sigh I should not leave thine isle,
Then give me but a look.
IV.
Oh, lovely are your English dames,
Although not fair like thee;
The wine shall circle to their names,
In our far Sicily.
V.
But thine shall be unnamed, unknown,
The cup that I shall press,
Will only be thy name to drown
In deep forgetfulness.
VI.
I will go gaze on raven eyes,
Like thine they cannot be;
The brightest smiles, the softest sighs,
Are nothing now to me.
VII.
Give me the battle on the brine,
The revel on the shore;
Be peril or be pleasure mine,
To think of thee no more.
VIII.
My way is on the wandering wave,
My home on many a coast;
But I must seek within the grave,
The peace that I have lost.
IX.
My night dream still will be of her,
My day thoughts on her dwell!
Then farewell lovely islander,
A long but vain farewell!
L. E. L.