Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1823.pdf/90



Half passionate emotion, half disease— And the damp lay on his white brow, and hung On his thick curls of auburn hair; his eyes, Blue as his native sky when it shines forth Amid the pauses of an April shower, Seem'd as they drank the Moon's light, with such bright And such wild glance they turned towards her ray. He was a stranger in fair Italy: He sought her kingdom, for it was a home For genius and for beauty; it had been His land of promise through the sunny dreams Of his impassioned boyhood; he had come With a rich store of burning thoughts, of hopes Like sunrise, vivid fancies, feelings wild, High energies, all that young talent has; And he had nourished them amid those shades Hallowed by memories of old, and still Kept sacred by their own green pleasantness,— Amid the glorious works of glorious men: Pictures alive with light, and stately domes Built for eternity,—music like hope, So very sweet,—and poetry, whose songs Are Love's own words, until he dreamed that fame Was a reality that he might win. He dream'd but to awake with withered heart And wasted health, and hopes like fallen stars, Crushed and stained with the earth to which they fell. Oh Genius! fling aside thy starry crown, Close up thy rainbow wings, and on thy head Lay dust and ashes—for, this cold drear world Is but thy prison-house. Alas for him Who has thy dangerous gifts, for they are like The fatal ones that evil spirits give,— Bright and bewildering, leading unto death. Oh, not amid the chill and earthly cares That waste our life, may those fine feelings live That are the Painter's or the Poet's light. Amid the many graves which in the shade Of Rome's dark cypresses are graved with names Of foreign sound to Italy's sweet tongue, Was one,—an English name was on the stone,— There that young Painter slept:—around the sod Were planted flowers and one or two green shrubs. ’Twas said that they were placed in fondness there By an Italian Girl, whom he had loved!—L. E. L.