Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, REVENGE, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON


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REVENGE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ay, gaze upon her rose-wreath'd hair
Last Line: For thou art not beloved.
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Revenge


AY, gaze upon her rose-wreath'd hair,
And gaze upon her smile;
Seem as you drank the very air
Her breath perfumed the while;

And wake for her the gifted line,
That wild and witching lay,
And swear your heart is as a shrine,
That only owns her sway.

'Tis well: I am revenged at last; --
Mark you that scornful cheek, --
The eye averted as you pass'd,
Spoke more than words could speak.

Ay, now by all the bitter tears
That I have shed for thee, --
The racking doubts, the burning fears, --
Avenged they well may be --

By the nights pass'd in sleepless care,
The days of endless woe;
All that you taught my heart to bear,
All that yourself will know.

I would not wish to see you laid
Within an early tomb;
I should forget how you betray'd,
And only weep your doom:

But this is fitting punishment,
To live and love in vain, --
O my wrung heart, be thou content,
And feed upon his pain.

Go thou and watch her lightest sigh, --
Thine own it will not be;
And bask beneath her sunny eye, --
It will not turn on thee.

'Tis well: the rack, the chain, the wheel,
Far better hadst thou proved;
Ev'n I could almost pity feel,
For thou art not beloved.





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