The First Wife

A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)

Ah, my lord, are the tidings true,

That thy mother’s jewels are shapen anew?

I hear that a bride has chosen been,

The stars consulted, the parents seen.

Had I been childless, had never there smiled

The brilliant eyes from the face of a child,

Then at least I had understood

This thing they tell me thou findest good.

But I have been down to the River of Death,

With painful footsteps and shuddering breath,

Seven times; thou hast daughters three,

And four young sons who are fair as thee.

I am not unlovely, over my head

Not twenty summers as yet have sped.

‘T is eleven years since my opening life

Was given to thee by my father’s wife.

Ah, those days–They were lovely to me,

When little and shy I waited for thee.

Till I locked my arms round my lover above,

A child in form but a woman in love.

And I bore thy sons, as a woman should,

Year by year, as is meet and good.

Thy mother was ever content with me–

And Oh, Beloved, I worshipped thee!

And now it’s over; alas, my lord,

Better I felt thy sharpest sword.

I hear she is youthful and fair as I

When I came to thee in the days gone by.

Her breasts are firmer; this bosom slips

Somewhat, weighted by children’s lips.

But they were thy children. Oh, lord my king,

Ah, why hast thy heart devised this thing ?

I am not as the women of this thy land,

Meek and timid, broken to hand.

From the distant North I was given to thee,

Whose daughters are passionate, fierce and free,

I could not dwell by a rival’s side,

I seek a bridegroom, as thou a bride.

The night she yieldeth her youth to thee,

Death shall take his pleasure in me.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Ballade Of Dead Ladies poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Cleopatra’s Needle poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Blind Love poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Autumn poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Aucassin poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Amoureuse poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of His Books poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of The Dream poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Dead Ladies poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of The Dead Cities poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Cleopatra’s Needle poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of The Bookworm poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Blind Love poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Autumn poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Of Aucassin poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Ballade Against The Jesuits poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Auld Maitland poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Annan Water poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Alison Gross poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang
• Aesop poem – Andrew Lang poems by Andrew Lang

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works