Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1823.pdf/52

51 Literary Gazette, 19th April 1823, Page 251

----It is the last survivor of a race Strong in their forest-pride when I was young. I can remember, when for miles around, In place of these smooth meadows and corn-fields, There stood ten thousand tall and stately trees, Such as had braved the winds of March, the bolt Sent by the summer lightning, and the snow Heaping for weeks their boughs. Even in the depth Of hot July the glades were cool; the grass, Yellow and parched elsewhere, grew long and fresh, Shading wild strawberries and violets, Or the lark's nest; and overhead, the dove Had her lone dwelling, paying for her home With melancholy songs; and scarce a beech Was there without a honeysuckle linked Around, with its red tendrils and pink flowers; Or girdled by a brier rose, whose buds Yield fragrant harvest for the honey-bee. There dwelt the last red deer, those antler'd kings.---- But this is as a dream,—the plough has pass'd Where the stag bounded, and the day has looked On the green twilight of the forest-trees. This Oak has no companion!----