Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1822.pdf/75

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Literary Gazette, 2nd November, 1822, Pages 697-698

ORIGINAL POETRY. DRAMATIC SCENES. — II.

Leonardi. 'Tis finished now: look on my picture. Love! Alvine. Oh, that sweet ring of graceful figures! one Flings her white arms on high, and gaily strikes Her golden cymbals—I can almost deem I hear their beatings; one with glancing feet Follows her music, while her crimson cheek Is flushed with exercise, till the red grape 'Mid the dark tresses of a sister nymph Is scarcely brighter; there another stands, A darker spirit yet, with joyous brow, And holding a rich goblet; oh, that child! With eyes as blue as spring-days, and those curls Throwing their auburn shadow o'er a brow So arch, so playful—have you bodied forth Young Cupid in your colours ? Leonardi. No—oh no, I could not paint Love as a careless boy,— That passionate Divinity, whose life Is of such deep and intense feeling! No, I am too true, too earnest, and too happy, To ever image by a changeful child That which is so unchangeable. But mark How sweet, how pale, the light that I have thrown Over the picture: it is just the time When Dian's dewy kiss lights up the dreams That make Endymion's sleep so beautiful. Look on the calm blue sky, so set with stars: Is it not like some we can both recall? Those azure shadows of a summer night, That veiled the cautious lutanist who waked Thy slumbers with his song. How more than fair, How like a spirit of that starry hour, I used to think you, as your timid hand Unbarr'd the casement and you leant to hear, Your long hair floating loose amid the vines Around your lattice; and how very sweet Your voice, scarce audible, with the soft fear That mingled in its low and tender tones!