Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1829.pdf/23



Long ages past, from the dim world of shadows These Brothers return'd to revisit the earth; They came to revisit the place of their glory, To hear and rejoice in the sound of their fame. They looked for the palace—the temple of marble— The rose-haunted gardens—a desert was there; The sand, like the sea in its wrath, had swept o'er them,* And tradition had even forgotten their names. The Conqueror stood on the place of his battles, And his triumph had passed away like a vapour, And the green grass was waving its growth of wild flowers, And they, not his banner, gave name to the place. They passed a king's garden, and there sat his daughter, Singing a sweet song remember'd of old, And the song was caught up, and sent back like an echo, From a young voice that came from a cottage beside. Then smiled the Minstrel, "You hear it, my Brothers, My songs yet are sweet on the lute and the lip." King, not a vestige remains of your palaces; Conqueror, forgotten the fame of your battles: But the Poet yet lives in the sweetness of music— He appeal'd to the heart, and that never forgets. L. E. L.