Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1825.pdf/23

22 Literary Gazette, 18th June, 1825, Page 396

ORIGINAL POETRY.

FRAGMENTS - FlFTH SERIES. Gleamings of poetry, if I may give That name of passion, beauty, and of grace, To visionings like these, oh! if not sweet To others, yet how very sweet to me. Fancies that gather in the silent hour, When I have watched the stars write on the sky In characters of light; have seen the moon Come like a veiled beauty from the east, While, like a hymn, the wind swelled on mine ear, Telling soft tidings of the rose: or when My heart has drunk sweet music, whose low tones Were as Love's own; when I have closed some page, Whose tale made sorrows lovelier than smiles. And imaged to myself all phantasies That wait on love; thought on its many griefs, Been jealous and forsaken, slighted, wronged, Until almost each mood became mine own;— Or when, before the painter's glorious works, I have bowed down in my idolatry: These are the thoughts to which my soul has turned, When cold neglect or scorn have wrung or searched. Oh, there are moments when my heart has dreamed Of things which cannot be—the bright, the pure, That all of which my heart can only dream. And I have mused upon my gift of song, And deeply felt its beauty, and disdained The pettiness of praise to which, at times, My soul has bowed; and I have scorned myself For that my cheek could burn, my heart could beat At idle words. And yet, it is in vain For the full heart to press back every pulse Wholly upon itself. Aye, fair as are The dreams that bless a poet's solitude: There must be something more for happiness— They seek communion. But, no more of this. Yet such wild snatches of my lute belong To hours like these, when that impassioned thoughts Glance o'er my spirits—thoughts that are like Light, Or Love, or Hope, in their effects.