Quote#God & Faith
Alas! for him whose youthful fire
Quote byLetitia Elizabeth Landon · 1802–1838
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Troubadour (1825), Canto I.
English (original)
Alas! for him whose youthful fire Is vowed and wasted on the lyre,— Alas! for him who shall essay, The laurel's long and dreary way! Mocking will greet, neglect will chill His spirit's gush, his bosom's thrill; And, worst of all, that heartless praise Echoed from what another says.
— Letitia Elizabeth Landon
More from Letitia Elizabeth Landon
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Once more my harp awakens ; once again, Tho' all unworthy be my hand to twine Th' etherial blossomings of poetry, I would call forth its numbers, yet would feel Its music fall like sunlight on my soul.
... absence is The moonlight of affection ;
The leaves were gone from all, save where the pine Threw the wide shadow of its unchang'd green. I could not envy it that fadeless state.— Ah ! who would be the last, the only one That ruin spares—no ; if the blight must pass O'er all …
'Tis soothing, oh ! most soothing to the heart, To rove 'mid scenes where once we have been blest! Each tree, each blossom, has a thrilling charm; They seem memorials of those happier hours : The very sigh that tells they are no more, Is …
Methinks adieu Is cold, when uttered with aught else but tears.