Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1824.pdf/49

48 Literary Gazette, 8th May, 1824, Page 299

THE POET'S RETREAT. Oh! not in stately halls, or gilded rooms, Or crowded city, would I dwell with thee! But in a lowly cottage, not so high But that the jessamine could reach the roof, And in a lonely valley, paint thee, love! A small white dwelling, in a paradise Of many-coloured flowers: at the door Should be a little porch of honeysuckle; The lattices should have no other blinds Than branches of red roses. In the room A lute be placed, whose music should be heard Together with the woodlark's evening song; Fresh flowers in green rush baskets; and some books, O'er which the Spirit of sweet Poesy Had shed his soul of beauty and of passion; And landscapes on the walls—landscapes that gave The skies of other nations—rock, and storm, And mountain-torrent—and black woods, where dwell The dark banditti; so that we might prize Still more the quiet of our own calm home. Our garden should be beautiful—but ours The only hands that made it beautiful. We would be proud of it. Our crocuses (Those golden promisers of April's wealth) Should be the first in Spring, and ours the rose That bloomed the last in autumn. In the shade Of an old ash, whose boughs hung o'er a bed Of purple violets, we'd place our hive