Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1836.pdf/4

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Suggested by a Drawing of W. Daniel's, Esq. A. R. A., representing the Hindoo Girls floating their Tributary offerings down the Ganges.

bend above the moonlit stream, With gathered fruit and flowers; The last on which the sun has left The earlier rosy hours.

One sends a vow to him afar— Ah! never can the heart Know half the love it cherishes Until it comes to part.

A thousand things are then recalled, Though scarcely marked at first; But lingering thoughts in after hours Betray how they were nurst.

Another sends a little boat Upon its happier way; She knows to-morrow will restore The eyes she loved to-day.

They bend with all the eager hope, The confidence of youth, Which makes the future it believes, And trusts itself with truth.

And never Grecian chisel formed Shapes of more perfect grace, Than by the moonlit Ganges bend, Each o'er her mirrored face.

Ah! love takes many shapes; at first It comes as flashes fly, That bear the lightning on their wings, And then in darkness die.