Quote#Nature
The bright cloud shone on the river's face
Quote byLetitia Elizabeth Landon · 1802–1838
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Golden Violet (1827), The Golden Violet - The Broken Spell.
English (original)
The bright cloud shone on the river's face, But the death-black waters had not a trace Of the crimson blaze that over them play'd : It seem'd as if a curse were laid On the grass, on the river, the tree, and the flower, And shut them out from the sunbeam's power ;
— Letitia Elizabeth Landon
More from Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Hope, frail but lovely shadow ! thou dost come, Like a bright vision on our pathway here, Making the gloomy future beautiful, And gilding our horizon with a light, The fairest human eye can ever know.
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.