Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1823.pdf/10



Then all around so calm, so passionless, The silence, and the stillness, and the light Unbroken by a shadow,—how the heart Must feel its finer impulses alive At such an hour as this!—Upon the deck Of that tall ship, the only thing whose image Was stamped in darkness on the moon-lit waves, Two Youths were leaning: one with the fair hair And blue eyes, with that falcon glance which mark'd The graceful Saxon, when with his good sword He sought a home and heritage; the other, Like a young Roman, with his raven curls And dark and flashing eyes. Like two spring pines The youthful Soldiers stood there, side by side They stood, and talked of all those buoyant dreams Which colour life but once—those morning lights That shine so cloudlessly and pass so soon! Hope's waters yet were fresh with them; the cares, The earthly cares, that stain each nobler aim, And withering sorrows, falsehood, discontent, Had not as yet profaned thy sweetest fountain, Delicious Hope! And there they leant, and spoke Of battle, glorious battle, till each ear Rang with the trumpet's music, and each eye Flashed at the thought of its first field.— Then gentler feelings gushed upon their heart. Fireside remembrances and kind affections: They dwelt on the last evening they had past Within their sweet home-circle, and recalled How each one prest more closely than their wont Around the hearth, all conscious that to-morrow A vacant place would be in that sweet ring; How each affectionate lip had prophesied Fortune and fame; and how in glistening eyes Hope had looked up but in the midst of tears And then, at if each felt there was a tie Of stronger unity in these recallings,