Poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

A Summer Day

Sweet valley, whose streams flow as sparkling and bright
As the stars that descend in the depths of the night;
Whose violets fling their rich breath on the air,
Sweet spendthrifts of treasure the Spring has flung there.

My lot is not with thee, 'tis far from thine own;
Nor thus, amid Summer and solitude thrown:
But still it is something to gaze upon thee,
And bless earth, that such peace on her bosom can be.

My heart and my steps both grow light as I bound
O'er the green grass that covers thy beautiful ground;
And joy o'er my thoughts, like the sun o'er the leaves,
A blessing in giving and taking receives.

I have heap'd up thy flowers, the wild and the sweet,
As if fresh from the touch of the night-elfin's feet;
A bough from thy oak, and a sprig from thy broom,—
I take them as keepsakes to tell of thy bloom.

Their green leaves may droop, and their colours may flee,
As if dying with sorrow at parting from thee;
And my memory fade with them, till thou wilt but seem
Like the flitting shape morning recalls of a dream.

Let them fade from their freshness, so leave they behind
One trace, like faint music, impress'd on the mind;
One leaf or one flower to memory will bring
The light of thy beauty, the hope of thy spring.

1. The Nameless Grave
2. Love’s Choice
3. Lines to ——— (No, no! thou hast broken the spell that entwin'd me)
4. Ideal Likenesses. Ariadne
5. Song (I wrote my name upon the sand)

Lucy Montgomery A Summer Day ("The dawn laughs out on orient hills")

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