Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FIRST DOUBT, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON



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THE FIRST DOUBT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Youth, love, and rank, and wealth - all these combined
Last Line: She sank before the presence of despair!
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Love - Unrequited


YOUTH, love, and rank, and wealth -- all these combined,
Can these be wretched? Mystery of the mind,
Whose happiness is in itself; but still
Has not that happiness at its own will.
She felt too wretched with the sudden fear --
Had she such lovely rival, and so near?
Ay, bitterest of the bitter this worst pain,
To know love's offering has been in vain;
Rejected, scorn'd, and trampled under foot,
Its bloom and leaves destroyed, but not its root.
"He loves me not!" -- no other words nor sound
An echo in the lady's bosom found:
It was a wretchedness too great to bear,
She sank before the presence of despair!





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