Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1823.pdf/94

93 Literary Gazette, 9th August 1823, Page 507

ORIGINAL POETRY. POETICAL CATALOGUE OF PICTURES. STOTHARD'S ERATO.

Gentlest one, I bow to thee, Rose-lipp'd queen of poesy, Sweet, thou whose chords Waken but for love-touched words! Never other crown be mine Than a flower-linked wreath of thine: Green leaves of the laurel tree Are for Bards of high degree; Better rose or violet suit With thy votary's softer lute. Not thine those proud lines that tell How kings ruled, or heroes fell; But that low and honey tone So peculiarly Love's own; Music such as the night breeze Wakens from the willow trees; Such as murmurs from the shell, Wave-kissed in some ocean cell; Tales sweet as the breath of flowers, Such as in the twilight hours The young Bard breathes; and also thine Those old memories divine, Fables Grecian poets sung When on Beauty's lips they hung, Till the essenced song became Like that kiss, half dew, half flame. Thine each frail and lovely thing, The first blossoms of the spring: Violets, ere the sun ray Drinks their fragrant life away; Roses, ere their crimson breast Throws aside its green moss vest; Young hearts, or ere toil, or care, Or gold, has left a sully there.