Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1824.pdf/19

18 Literary Gazette, 28th February, 1824, Page 139

ORIGINAL POETRY. METRICAL TALES. 1.—THE THREE WELLS—A Fairy Tale. "J'ai grand regret à la fairie”— Marmontel.

There 's an island which the sea Keeps in lone tranquillity; Filled with flowers which the sun Never yet hath looked upon,— Flowers lighted with the light Left by fairy feet at night; Worshippers of the sweet moon, Veiled from the eye of noon, For, by daylight, bud nor bloom Smiles amid the island gloom. All is desolate and drear, As no spring were in the year: But beneath night's shadowy wing Violets and roses spring; Perfume floats upon the air, Myrtle boughs are waving there; Stars shine in their beauty forth, Meteors glisten from the north, Rode by radiant shapes that seem Creatures made of bloom and beam, With their hair and plumes' gay dyes Glorious as the morning skies. Seldom hath a mortal eye Looked upon their revelry; Yet sometimes, for what is there Love in young hearts will not dare, Lover's step has dared to press That ground's haunted loveliness. When the moon in her blue hall Lights her zenith coronal, On each mystic leaf and flower Lies a spell of true love power: Often have they borne away Rosy leaf and scented spray; Next the heart the charm have worn, Long as true love faith was borne. But as old tradition tells, There are other, deeper, spells In the lone and mystic wells— Spells of strange wild augury Few have had the heart to try.—

She came, or ever the dawning bright Banished in blushes the grey twilight; Like a spirit she seemed to float, As the morning star guided her lonely boat; With her golden hair, like a sunny sail Spread by hope for a favouring gale; With a cheek like the rose, when first the spring Wakes its life of scented languishing; And eyes, to whose dazzling beauty were given The blue and the light of a summer heaven— She sat alone in the boat, as it went Calm thro' the sleep-hushed element.