Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1822.pdf/99

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Literary Gazette, 14th December, 1822, Pages 793-794

VIII. - The Peri. It was a bower of roses, linked by wreaths Of the golden jasmine, loved by the bee Whose summer home it is, the flower that breathes Upon the Indian girl's dark hair, when she Braids her long tresses for festivity. Beside these sweet and sunny chains, unclose Soft leaves, some white as foam-flakes of the sea, Some veined with pink; but more than all there glows The hue-like maiden's cheek, when love calls forth the rose.— Above the blossoms hung an airy form, Upborne by pinions of an azure dye, Playing around like light; her cheek is warm With rich carnation, and that starry eye Has the bright colour of the noon-tide sky. Her look is passionless: no deeper hue Varies that blush, and as she floats, a sigh Of odours, and a fresher fall of dew, Welcome the waving music from those wings of blue. L. E. L.