Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1825.pdf/28

27 Literary Gazette, 25th June, 1825, Page 413

ORIGINAL POETRY. THE ALMOND TREE. and falling, Where is the bloom Of yon fair almond tree? It is sunk to its tomb.

Its tomb, wheresoever The wind may have borne The leaves and the blossoms, Its roughness has torn.

Some there are floating On yon fountain's breast,— Some line the moss Of the nightingale's nest,—

Some are just strewn O'er the green grass below, And there they lie stainless, As winter's first snow.

Yesterday, on the boughs They hung scented and fair; To-day, they are scattered The breeze best knows where.

To-morrow, those leaves Will be scentless and dead, For the kind to lament And the careless to tread.

And is it not thus With each hope of the heart? With all its best feelings Thus will they depart.

They'll go forth to the world On the wings of the air, Rejoicing and hoping, But what will be there.

False lights to deceive, False friends to delude, Till the heart, in its sorrow, Left only to brood;---

Over-feeling crushed, chilled, Sweet hopes ever flown; Like that tree, when its green leaves And blossoms are gone.L. E. L.