The Aloe
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) My life was like an Aloe flower, beneath an orient sky, Your sunshine touched it for an hour; it blossomed but to die. Torn up, cast out, on rubbish heaps where red flames work their will Each atom of the […]
Syed Amir
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Syed Amir is dead, and his numerous foes Are hushed in a breathless awe of amazed relief. The hearts of his friends are cold as the Tirah snows, And I am blind and deaf in the Grip of my Grief. […]
Surface Rights
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Drifting, drifting down the River, Tawny current and foam-flecked tide, Sorrowful songs of lonely boatmen, Mournful forests on either side. Thine are the outcrops’ glittering blocks, The quartz where the rich pyrites gleam, The golden treasure of unhewn rocks And […]
Surf Song
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) My little one, come and listen To the calling of the sea’ And watch how the wet sands glisten Where the surf has left them free’ As thou and the wind together, Shall frolic along the strand; Thy feet as […]
Sunstroke
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Oh, straight, white road that runs to meet, Across green fields, the blue green sea, You knew the little weary feet Of my child bride that was to be! Her people brought her from the shore One golden day in […]
Story Of Udaipore Told By Lalla Ji The Priest
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) “And when the Summer Heat is great, And every hour intense, The Moghra, with its subtle flowers, Intoxicates the sense.” The Coco palms stood tall and slim, against the golden-glow, And all their grey and graceful plumes were waving to […]
Story Of Lilavanti
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) They lay the slender body down With all its wealth of wetted hair, Only a daughter of the town, But very young and slight and fair. The eyes, whose light one cannot see, Are sombre doubtless, like the tresses, The […]
Story By Lalla Ji The Priest
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) He loved the Plant with a keen delight, A passionate fervour, strange to see, Tended it ardently, day and night, Yet never a flower lit up the tree. The leaves were succulent, thick, and green, And, sessile, out of the […]
Starlight
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) O beautiful Stars, when you see me go Hither and thither, in search of love, Do you think me faithless, who gleam and glow Serene and fixed in the blue above? O Stars, so golden, it is not so. But […]
Song Of The Peri
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Beauty, the Gift of Gifts, I give to thee. Pleasure and love shall spring around thy feet As through the lake the lotuses arise Pinkly transparent and divinely sweet. I give thee eyes aglow like morning stars, Delicate brows, a […]
Song Of The Parao Camping Ground
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Heart, my heart, thou hast found thy home! From gloom and sorrow thou hast come forth, Thou who wast foolish, and sought to roam ‘Neath the cruel stars of the frozen North. Thou hast returned to thy dear delights; The […]
Song Of The Enfifa River
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) At day-break, when the tide was low He came to bathe his slender feet, And laughing, sported to and fro, Across my waters cool and sweet. Obedient to his Faith’s decree His sable hair was shorn away, One curl was […]
Song Of The Devoted Slave
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) There is one God: Mahomed his Prophet. Had I his power I would take the topmost peaks of the snow-clad Himalayas, And would range them around your dwelling, during the heats of summer, To cool the airs that fan your […]
Song Of The Colours By Taj Mahomed
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) _Rose-colour_ Rose Pink am I, the colour gleams and glows In many a flower; her lips, those tender doors By which, in time of love, love’s essence flows From him to her, are dyed in delicate Rose. Mine is the […]
Song Of Taj Mahomed
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Dear is my inlaid sword; across the Border It brought me much reward; dear is my Mistress, The jewelled treasure of an amorous hour. Dear beyond measure are my dreams and Fancies. These I adore; for these I live and […]
Song Of Ramesram Temple Girl
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Now is the season of my youth, Not thus shall I always be, Listen, dear Lord, thou too art young, Take thy pleasure with me. My hair is straight as the falling rain, And fine as morning mist, I am […]
Song Of Khan Zada
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) As one may sip a Stranger’s Bowl You gave yourself but not your soul. I wonder, now that time has passed, Where you will come to rest at last. You gave your beauty for an hour, I held it gently […]
Song Of Jasoda
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 […]
Song Of Faiz Ulla
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Just at the time when Jasmins bloom, most sweetly in the summer weather, Lost in the scented Jungle gloom, one sultry night we spent together We, Love and Night, together blent, a Trinity of tranced content. Yet, while your lips […]
Song By Gulbaz
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) “Is it safe to lie so lonely when the summer twilight closes No companion maidens, only you asleep among the roses? “Thirteen, fourteen years you number, and your hair is soft and scented, Perilous is such a slumber in the […]
Sleep
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) There is something so beseeching in the attitude of sleep, A pathetic resignation, most appealing to the heart. . There must surely be some secret that the eyes in slumber keep, Which the lips, on their awakening, could not, if […]
Shivratri The Night Of Shiva While The Procession Passed At Ramesram
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Nearer and nearer cometh the car Where the Golden Goddess towers, Sweeter and sweeter grows the air From a thousand trampled flowers. We two rest in the Temple shade Safe from the pilgrim flood, This path of the Gods in […]
Sher Afzul
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) This was the tale Sher Afzul told to me, While the spent camels bubbled on their knees, And ruddy camp-fires twinkled through the gloom Sweet with the fragrance from the Sinjib trees. I had a friend who lay, condemned to […]
Sea Song
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Against the planks of the cabin side, (So slight a thing between them and me,) The great waves thundered and throbbed and sighed, The great green waves of the Indian sea! Your face was white as the foam is white, […]
Sampan Song
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) A little breeze blew over the sea, And it came from far away, Across the fields of millet and rice, All warm with sunshine and sweet with spice, It lifted his curls and kissed him thrice, As upon the deck […]
Rutland Gate
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) His back is bent and his lips are blue, Shivering out in the wet: “Here’s a florin, my man, for you, Go and get drunk and forget!” Right in the midst of a Christian land, Rotted with wealth and ease, […]
Reverie Zahir U Din
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Alone, I wait, till her twilight gate The Night slips quietly through, With shadow and gloom, and purple bloom, Flung over the Zenith blue. Her stars that tremble, would fain dissemble Light over lovers thrown,– Her hush and mystery know […]
Reverie Ofmahomed Akram At The Tamarind Tank
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) The Desert is parched in the burning sun And the grass is scorched and white. But the sand is passed, and the march is done, We are camping here to-night. I sit in the shade of the Temple walls, While […]
Reverie Of Ormuz The Persian
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, […]
Reverie Of Mahomed Akram At The Tamarind Tank
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) The Desert is parched in the burning sun And the grass is scorched and white. But the sand is passed, and the march is done, We are camping here to-night. I sit in the shade of the Temple walls, While […]
Request
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) Give me your self one hour; I do not crave For any love, or even thought, of me. Come, as a Sultan may caress a slave And then forget for ever, utterly. Come! as west winds, that passing, cool and […]
Reminiscence Of Mahomed Akram
A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904) I shall never forget you, never. Never escape Your memory woven about the beautiful things of life. The sudden Thought of your Face is like a Wound When it comes unsought On some scent of Jasmin, Lilies, or pale Tuberose. […]
Protest By Zahir U Din
Alas! alas! this wasted Night With all its Jasmin-scented air, Its thousand stars, serenely bright! I lie alone, and long for you, Long for your Champa-scented hair, Your tranquil eyes of twilight hue; Long for the close-curved, delicate lips –Their sinuous sweetness laid on mine– Here, where the slender fountain drips, Here, where the […]
Prayer
You are all that is lovely and light, Aziza whom I adore, And, waking, after the night, I am weary with dreams of you. Every nerve in my heart is tense and sore As I rise to another morning apart from you. I dream of your luminous eyes, Aziza whom I adore! Of the […]
Palm Trees By The Sea
Love, let me thank you for this! Now we have drifted apart, Wandered away from the sea,– For the fresh touch of your kiss, For the young warmth of your heart, For your youth given to me. Thanks: for the curls of your hair, Softer than silk to the hand, For the clear gaze […]
On The City Wall
Upon the City Ramparts, lit up by sunset gleam, The Blue eyes that conquer, meet the Darker eyes that dream. The Dark eyes, so Eastern, and the Blue eyes from the West, The last alight with action, the first so full of rest. Brown, that seem to hold the Past; its magic mystery, Blue, […]
On Pilgrimage
Oh, youthful bearer of my palanquin, Thy glossy hair lies loosened on thy neck, The “tears of labour” gem thy velvet skin, Whose even texture knows no other fleck. Thy slender shoulder strains beneath my weight; Too fair thou art for work, sweet slave of mine. Would that this idle breast, reversing fate, A […]
Ojira To Her Lover
I am waiting in the desert, looking out towards the sunset, And counting every moment till we meet. I am waiting by the marshes and I tremble and I listen Till the soft sands thrill beneath your coming feet. Till I see you, tall and slender, standing clear against the skyline A graceful shade […]
Oh Unforgotten And Only Lover
Oh, unforgotten and only lover, Many years have swept us apart, But none of the long dividing seasons Slay your memory in my heart. In the clash and clamour of things unlovely My thoughts drift back to the times that were, When I, possessing thy pale perfection, Kissed the eyes and caressed the hair. […]
Oh Masters
Oh, Masters, you who rule the world, Will you not wait with me awhile, When swords are sheathed and sails are furled, And all the fields with harvest smile? I would not waste your time for long, I ask you but, when you are tired, To read how by the weak, the strong Are […]