Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1823.pdf/87

86 Literary Gazette, 26th July 1823, Page 474-475

ORIGINAL POETRY. THE ARTIST'S STUDIO. - - - - -  - Methinks Beauty should be around the beautiful, And these fine Arts live in an atmosphere Of light surrounded by thrice delicate shapes Of grace and love. ————————————

The light came dim, but beautiful, through blinds Of the linked jessamine, which wooed the vine With its white kisses; and a fragrant air, Bearing low music from the wind-touched harp, Came floating through the room. By glimpses seen, As o'er the lattices the moonlight played And lighted up its waters, shone the lake, With its white swans, like spirits, gliding on Its isles of floating lilies; and its banks, Where swept the graceful willows, and the turf, Silver'd with dew and star-light, spread beneath, Dotted with clumps of gloomy cypresses, Mixed with the fairer blossomed orange trees. And far beyond, like shadowy thunder-clouds, Rose high but distant hills; and over all A soft and blue Italian sky,—the blue That painters and that poets love,—the blue The lover worships in the maiden's eyes, Whose beauty is their power and spell. And, like Sweet incense to sweet shrines, dew-scented flowers Filled up the casements; roses, on whose leaves The summer had just breathed ; the buds of pearl That are the myrtle's dower; carnation stems, Rich in their perfumed blushes—all were here, Looking and breathing June. The marble floor Had not one spot, save two or three rich stains Cast from the pictured roof, on which is told The history of Aurora and her love, The earthly Youth she wooed, and wooed in vain, Oh, love is very constant! 'tis most cold, Untrue, and heartless raillery, to say That love's life is not longer than those flowers Whose sunrise beauty is by noontide past; That it should ever change, is but the curse Shadowing our every earthly happiness, And for one record of its fickleness Are thousand memories of its deep truth, Its entire faith, its self-devotedness.—