The Mind
Apologue
From The Improvisatrice and Other Poems (1824)
WATER.
Seek for me in the Arab maid's bower,
Where the fountain plays over the jasmine flower;
Seek for me in the light cascade
The minstrel lists in the greenwood shade;
Seek me at morn 'mid the violet's dyes:
Seek me where rainbows paint April skies:
In the blue rush of rivers, the depths of the sea,
If we should sever, there seek for me.
FIRE.
Seek for me where the war-shots meet,
Where the soldier's cloak is his winding-sheet;
Seek for me where the lava wave
Bursts from Etna's secret cave;
Seek for me where Christmas mirth
Brightens the circle of love round your hearth;
Where meteor-flames glance, where the stars are bright
Where the beacon flashes at the dead midnight;
Where the lightning scathes the tall oak-tree,
If we should sever, there seek for me.
AIR.
Seek for me where the Spanish maid
Hearkens at eve to the serenade:
Seek for me where the clouds are dark,
Where the billows foam round the sinking bark;
Where the aspen-leaf floats on the summer's gale,
Where the rose bends low at the nightingale's tale:
Where the wind-harp wakens in melody,
If we should sever, there seek for me.
SHAME.
Seek not me, if we should sever:
Parted once, we part for ever.
Cite this poem
MLA
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). “Apologue.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/landon_le/31/.
Chicago
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). “Apologue.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/landon_le/31/.
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