A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)
Softly the feathery Palm-trees fade in the violet Distance,
Faintly the lingering light touches the edge of the sea,
Sadly the Music of Waves, drifts, faint as an Anthem’s insistence,
Heard in the aisles of a dream, over the sandhills, to me.
Now that the Lights are reversed, and the Singing changed into sighing,
Now that the wings of our fierce, fugitive passion are furled,
Take I unto myself, all alone in the light that is dying,
Much of the sorrow that lies hid at the Heart of the World.
Sad am I, sad for your loss: for failing the charm of your presence,
Even the sunshine has paled, leaving the Zenith less blue.
Even the ocean lessens the light of its green opalescence,
Since, to my sorrow I loved, loved and grew weary of, you.
Why was our passion so fleeting, why had the flush of your beauty
Only so slender a spell, only so futile a power?
Yet, even thus ever is life, save when long custom or duty
Moulds into sober fruit Love’s fragile and fugitive flower.
Fain would my soul have been faithful; never an alien pleasure
Lured me away from the light lit in your luminous eyes,
But we have altered the World as pitiful man has leisure
To criticise, balance, take counsel, assuredly lies.
All through the centuries Man has gathered his flower, and fenced it,
–Infinite strife to attain; infinite struggle to keep,–
Holding his treasure awhile, all Fate and all forces against it,
Knowing it his no more, if ever his vigilance sleep.
But we have altered the World as pitiful man has grown stronger,
So that the things we love are as easily kept as won,
Therefore the ancient fight can engage and detain us no longer,
And all too swiftly, alas, passion is over and done.
Far too speedily now we can gather the coveted treasure,
Enjoy it awhile, be satiated, begin to tire;
And what shall be done henceforth with the profitless after-leisure,
Who has the breath to kindle the ash of a faded fire?
Ah, if it only had lasted! After my ardent endeavour
Came the delirious Joy, flooding my life like a sea,
Days of delight that are burnt on the brain for ever and ever,
Days and nights when you loved, before you grew weary of me.
Softly the sunset decreases dim in the violet Distance,
Even as Love’s own fervour has faded away from me,
Leaving the weariness, the monotonous Weight of Existence,–
All the farewells in the world weep in the sound of the sea.
A few random poems:
- Hard To Please by Shel Silverstein
- Sonnet: Before He Went poem – John Keats poems
- Monadnock in Early Spring poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Don’t Give A Dose To The One You Love Most by Shel Silverstein
- On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic by William Wordsworth
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка о красной шапочке
- Dedication poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Mantra-Yoga poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- The rainy Pleiads wester poem – A. E. Housman
- Владимир Высоцкий – Грустная песня о Ванечке
- Иван Бунин – Не видно птиц
- The Girt Wold House O’ Mossy Stwone by William Barnes
- Lover’s Gifts XL: A Message Came by Rabindranath Tagore
- Владимир Маяковский – Чтоб с голодом справиться и с разрухой-дурой (Главполитпросвет)
- Biography In The First Person by Stephen Dunn
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
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка про мангустов
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка о слухах
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка ни про что, или Что случилось в Африке
- Владимир Высоцкий – Переворот в мозгах из края в край
- Владимир Высоцкий – Перед выездом в загранку заполняешь кучу бланков
- Владимир Высоцкий – Пародия на плохой детектив
- Владимир Высоцкий – Парня спасём, парня в детдом
- Владимир Высоцкий – Памятник
- Владимир Высоцкий – Палач
- Владимир Высоцкий – Охота на кабанов
- Владимир Высоцкий – Ох, где был я вчера
- Владимир Высоцкий – Отпустите мне грехи
- Владимир Высоцкий – От скучных шабашей смертельно уставши
- Владимир Высоцкий – Оплавляются свечи на старинный паркет
- Владимир Высоцкий – Она была в Париже
- Владимир Высоцкий – Он не вернулся из боя
- Владимир Высоцкий – Оловянные солдатики
- Владимир Высоцкий – Однако, втягивать живот
- Владимир Высоцкий – Один смотрел, другой орал
- Владимир Высоцкий – Очи чёрные: Часть I
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.