Oh Amber Eyes, oh Golden Eyes!
Oh Eyes so softly gay!
Wherein swift fancies fall and rise,
Grow dark and fade away.
Eyes like a little limpid pool
That holds a sunset sky,
While on its surface, calm and cool,
Blue water lilies lie.
Oh Tender Eyes, oh Wistful Eyes,
You smiled on me one day,
And all my life, in glad surprise,
Leapt up and pleaded “Stay!”
Alas, oh cruel, starlike eyes,
So grave and yet so gay,
You went to lighten other skies,
Smiled once and passed away.
Oh, you whom I name “Golden Eyes,”
Perhaps I used to know
Your beauty under other skies
In lives lived long ago.
Perhaps I rowed with galley slaves,
Whose labour never ceased,
To bring across Phoenician waves
Your treasure from the East.
Maybe you were an Emperor then
And I a favourite slave;
Some youth, whom from the lions’ den
You vainly tried to save!
Maybe I reigned, a mighty King,
The early nations knew,
And you were some slight captive thing,
Some maiden whom I slew.
Perhaps, adrift on desert shores
Beside some shipwrecked prow,
I gladly gave my life for yours.
Would I might give it now!
Or on some sacrificial stone
Strange Gods we satisfied,
Perhaps you stooped and left a throne
To kiss me ere I died.
Perhaps, still further back than this,
In times ere men were men,
You granted me a moment’s bliss
In some dark desert den,
When, with your amber eyes alight
With iridescent flame,
And fierce desire for love’s delight,
Towards my lair you came
Ah laughing, ever-brilliant eyes,
These things men may not know,
But something in your radiance lies,
That, centuries ago,
Lit up my life in one wild blaze
Of infinite desire
To revel in your golden rays,
Or in your light expire.
If this, oh Strange Ringed Eyes, be true,
That through all changing lives
This longing love I have for you
Eternally survives,
May I not sometimes dare to dream
In some far time to be
Your softly golden eyes may gleam
Responsively on me?
Ah gentle, subtly changing eyes,
You smiled on me one day,
And all my life in glad surprise
Leaped up, imploring “Stay!”
Alas, alas, oh Golden Eyes,
So cruel and so gay,
You went to shine in other skies,
Smiled once and passed away.
A few random poems:
- The Hosts
- The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes
- Владимир Маяковский – Бруклинский мост
- Sonnet CXXXIV by William Shakespeare
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Семик
- Incense by Vachel Lindsay
- Иван Мятлев – Старушка
- Eternal Love by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Love Of Life poem – Alfred Austin
- Sonnet CIII by William Shakespeare
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “Irish Melodies”. 22. Let Erin Remember the Days of Old. Томас Мур.
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Леля
- Most Precious by R. L. Karlowsky
- Love’s Wisdom poem – Alfred Austin
- Jet by Tony Hoagland
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Portrait of Rage and Age poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- Introspection In Evening poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- For Fixation Who Loves Me Back poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- A March Afternoon poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- A February Night poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Cat Perched on the Railing poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- What a Glow Everywhere I see – Aaj Rung Hai poem – with a translation Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Tori Soorat Kay Balihaari poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sakal Bun poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Rains Have Come poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Persian Poem poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- O Wondrous Ecstatic Eyes – Chashmay Mastay poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nami Danam… poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mora Jobana (My Youth) poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mohay Apnay Hi Rung Mein poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Man Kunto Maula poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Main to piya say naina lada aayi ray poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Main to piya say naina lada aayi ray poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Khabaram raseed imshab poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Rains Have Come poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Violet Nicolson ( 1865 – 1904); otherwise known as Adela Florence Nicolson (née Cory), was an English poetess who wrote under the pseudonym of Laurence Hope, however she became known as Violet Nicolson. In the early 1900s, she became a best-selling author. She committed suicide and is buried in Madras, now Chennai, India.