The Emerald Ring

by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

A superstition.

It is a gem which hath the power to show
If plighted lovers keep their vow or no:
If faithful, it is like the leaves of spring;
If faithless, like those leaves when withering.
Take back again your emerald gem,
There is no color in the stone;
It might have graced a diadem,
But now its hue and light are gone!
Take back your gift, and give me mine --
The kiss that sealed our last love-vow;
Ah, other lips have been on thine, --
My kiss is lost and sullied now!
The gem is pale, the kiss forgot,
And, more than either, you are changed;
But my true love has altered not,
My heart is broken -- not estranged!