A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)
Had I been young I could have claimed to fold thee
For many days against my eager breast;
But, as things are, how can I hope to hold thee
Once thou hast wakened from this fleeting rest?
Clear shone the moonlight, so that thou couldst find me,
Yet not so clear that thou couldst see my face,
Where in the shadow of the palms behind me
I waited for thy steps, for thy embrace.
What reck I now my morning life was lonely?
For widowed feet the ways are always rough.
Though thou hast come to me at sunset only,
Still thou hast come, my Lord, it is enough.
Ah, mine no more the glow of dawning beauty,
The fragrance and the dainty gloss of youth,
Worn by long years of solitude and duty,
I have no bloom to offer thee in truth.
Yet, since these eyes of mine have never wandered,
Still may they gleam with long forgotten light.
Since in no wanton way my youth was squandered,
Some sense of youth still clings to me to-night.
_Thy_ lips are fresh as dew on budding roses,
The gold of dawn still lingers in thy hair,
While the abandonment of sleep discloses
How every attitude of youth is fair.
Thou art so pale, I hardly dare caress thee,
Too brown my fingers show against the white.
Ahi, the glory, that I should possess thee,
Ahi, the grief, but for a single night!
The tulip tree has pallid golden flowers
That grow more rosy as their petals fade;
Such is the splendour of my evening hours
Whose time of youth was wasted in the shade.
I shall not wait to see to-morrow’s morning,
Too bright the golden dawn for me,–too bright,–
How could I bear thine eyes’ unconscious scorning
Of what so pleased thee in the dimmer light?
It may be wine had brought some brief illusion,
Filling thy brain with rainbow fantasy,
Or youth, with moonlight, making sweet collusion,
Threw an alluring glamour over me
Therefore I leave thee softly, to awaken
When the first sun rays warm thy blue-veined breast,
Smiling and all unknowing I have taken
The poppied drink that brings me endless rest.
Thus would I have thee rise; thy fancy laden
With the vague sweetness of the bygone night,
Thinking of me as some consenting maiden,
Whose beauty blossomed first for thy delight.
While I, if any kindly visions hover
Around the silence of my last repose,
Shall dream of thee, my pale and radiant lover,
Who made my life so lovely at its close!
A few random poems:
- The Coming Of Winter poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Après le Bain by William Carlos Williams
- Gwaïn To Brookwell by William Barnes
- Николай Языков – Баян к русскому воину
- The Gardener XXXVIII: My Love, Once upon a Time by Rabindranath Tagore
- Penmaen Pool poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Алексей Плещеев – Песня
- As a Beam O’er the Face of the Waters May Glow by Thomas Moore
- An Act of Faith by Talha Jafri
- The Soldier poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- A Woman Unconscious by Ted Hughes
- Freedom poem – by Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- “Hedge, that divides the lovely” by Torquato Tasso
- Sonnet 71: No longer mourn for me when I am dead by William Shakespeare
- The Rival by Sylvia Plath
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
- Ode to Beer, an Irish Song
- Whose beer is that? A Poem about Beer.
- An Ode to Beer
- To – – – – –
- Yes, ’tis the pulse of life! my fears were vain!
- Ancient pornography before pornography. 10 Most Shocking Sex Artifacts From The Ancient World. Amazing works of erotic art of the ancient world.
- Sonnet to Italy by Felicia Dorothea Hemans
- Ode to Superstition
- A Practical Young Woman poem – Irwin Russell “,
- An Epistle to A Friend
- The Pleasures of Memory
- Oh could my Mind
- Italy
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Indifference. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. In the Forest. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. In June. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Hymn to Spiritual Desire. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Home. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. William Barnes. Third Collection. The Broken Heart. Уильям Барнс.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. He Who Loves. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
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.