Poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Love's Parting Wreath

I give thee, love, a blooming braid;
    I cull'd it at eve's 'witching hour;
I twin'd it in the moon's sweet shade,
    When starlight dew was on each flower.

I chose the myrtle's fadeless leaf,
    For it will picture faith to thee;
I chose the cypress—'tis like grief—
    And that may well my emblem be.


I place the violet in my wreath—
    Its sigh is memory's perfume;
I place the rose, for its sweet breath
    Survives its beauty's passing bloom.

Oh! not a flower is here entwin'd,
    That lays not on thy thought a spell:
Forget-me-not, the wreath shall bind—
    Forget me not, is Love's farewell.

1. The Phoenix and the Dove
2. The Evening Prayer, or The Orphan
3. The Reply of the Fountain
4. Fragment (It is not spring, but still the new-come year)
5. Sleeping Child

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