Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1823.pdf/28

27 Literary Gazette, 1st March 1823, Page 139

A Nereid floating on a Shell. Thy dwelling is the coral cave, Thy element the blue sea wave, Thy music the wild billows dashing, Thy light the diamond's crystal flashing: I'd leave this earth to dwell with thee, Bright-haired daughter of the sea! It was an hour of lone starlight When first my eye caught thy sweet sight: Thy white feet press'd a silver shell, Love's own enchanted corracle; Thy fair arms waved like the white foam The seas dash from their billowy home; And far behind, thy golden hair, A bright sail, floated on the air; And on thy lips there was a song, As music wafted thee along. They say, sweet daughter of the sea, Thy look and song are treachery; Thy smile is but the honied bait To lure thy lover to his fate. I know not, and I care still less; It is enough of happiness To be deceived. Oh, never yet Could love doubt—no, one doubt would set His fettered pinions free from all His false but most delicious thrall. Love cannot live and doubt; and I, Vowed slave to my bright deity, Have but one prayer: Come joy, come ill, If you deceive, deceive me still; Better the heart in faith should die Than break beneath love's perjury.