A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)
Whether I loved you who shall say?
Whether I drifted down your way
In the endless River of Chance and Change,
And you woke the strange
Unknown longings that have no names,
But burn us all in their hidden flames,
Who shall say?
Life is a strange and a wayward thing:
We heard the bells of the Temples ring,
The married children, in passing, sing.
The month of marriage, the month of spring,
Was full of the breath of sunburnt flowers
That bloom in a fiercer light than ours,
And, under a sky more fiercely blue,
I came to you!
You told me tales of your vivid life
Where death was cruel and danger rife–
Of deep dark forests, of poisoned trees,
Of pains and passions that scorch and freeze,
Of southern noontides and eastern nights,
Where love grew frantic with strange delights,
While men were slaying and maidens danced,
Till I, who listened, lay still, entranced.
Then, swift as a swallow heading south,
I kissed your mouth!
One night when the plains were bathed in blood
From sunset light in a crimson flood,
We wandered under the young teak trees
Whose branches whined in the light night breeze;
You led me down to the water’s brink,
“The Spring where the Panthers come to drink
At night; there is always water here
Be the season never so parched and sere.”
Have we souls of beasts in the forms of men?
I fain would have tasted your life-blood then.
The night fell swiftly; this sudden land
Can never lend us a twilight strand
‘Twixt the daylight shore and the ocean night,
But takes–as it gives–at once, the light.
We laid us down on the steep hillside,
While far below us wild peacocks cried,
And we sometimes heard, in the sunburnt grass,
The stealthy steps of the Jungle pass.
We listened; knew not whether they went
On love or hunger the more intent.
And under your kisses I hardly knew
Whether I loved or hated you.
But your words were flame and your kisses fire,
And who shall resist a strong desire?
Not I, whose life is a broken boat
On a sea of passions, adrift, afloat.
And, whether I came in love or hate,
That I came to you was written by Fate
In every hue of the blood-red sky,
In every tone of the peacocks’ cry.
While every gust of the Jungle night
Was fanning the flame you had set alight.
For these things have power to stir the blood
And compel us all to their own chance mood.
And to love or not we are no more free
Than a ripple to rise and leave the sea.
We are ever and always slaves of these,
Of the suns that scorch and the winds that freeze,
Of the faint sweet scents of the sultry air,
Of the half heard howl from the far off lair.
These chance things master us ever. Compel
To the heights of Heaven, the depths of Hell.
Whether I love you? You do not ask,
Nor waste yourself on the thankless task.
I give your kisses at least return,
What matter whether they freeze or burn.
I feel the strength of your fervent arms,
What matter whether it heals or harms.
You are wise; you take what the Gods have sent.
You ask no question, but rest content
So I am with you to take your kiss,
And perhaps I value you more for this.
For this is Wisdom; to love, to live,
To take what Fate, or the Gods, may give,
To ask no question, to make no prayer,
To kiss the lips and caress the hair,
Speed passion’s ebb as you greet its flow,–
To have,–to hold,–and,–in time,–let go!
And this is our Wisdom: we rest together
On the great lone hills in the storm-filled weather,
And watch the skies as they pale and burn,
The golden stars in their orbits turn,
While Love is with us, and Time and Peace,
And life has nothing to give but these.
But, whether you love me, who shall say,
Or whether you, drifting down my way
In the great sad River of Chance and Change,
With your looks so weary and words so strange,
Lit my soul from some hidden flame
To a passionate longing without a name,
Who shall say?
Not I, who am but a broken boat,
Content for a while to drift afloat
In the little noontide of love’s delights
Between two Nights.
A few random poems:
- Herodotus in Egypt Remeber Delos by Ruth Padel
- Юлия Друнина – Ветер с фронта
- The Deserted House poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- A Sense of Humor by Vachel Lindsay
- The Widow at Windsor by Rudyard Kipling
- Attente by Martine Morillon-Carreau
- To a Lady and Her Children by Phillis Wheatley
- Владимир Степанов – Ослик
- Finis by Walter Savage Landor
- Justification by William Strode
- Шекспир – Что, если бы я право заслужил – Сонет 125
- Four Quartets 2: East Coker by T. S. Eliot
- Владимир Маяковский – России
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Пытки
- Specimen Of An Induction To A Poem poem – John Keats 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
- Create Wealth With Creative Thinking
- How to Earn Money Writing and Selling Books
- In the Philippines, August Is a Celebration of Buwan Ng Wika
- Christopher Okigbo – Looking Back at His Short-lived Life and Taking Stock of His Poetic Legacy
- Mary’s Son – A Tale of Christmas – An Inspiring Read
- Most Memorable Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
- Proactive Responses to Recession – 7 Creative Ways to Make Extra Money With Real Estate
- Love Expression in Marriage
- Family Caregivers Have Promises to Keep
- Follow My Directions, Please: A Fun Christian Preschool Activity
- Creative Self Sabotage – 5 Favourite Sabotage Techniques Of Creative Artists & How To Avoid Them
- Is Resume Writing Really That Important?
- Literary Cubism – A Non-Structured Structure For Twenty-first Century Storytelling
- Los Able Minded Poets Music Review
- How to Choose a Federal Resume Writing Service
- The Truth About Propolis Benefits
- Insights Into History, Culture, & Creativity of Sri Lanka – Explore the Cultural Triangle
- The Columbian Exchange Beginning With Spanish Colonization
- 3 Inspirational Quotes That Encourage You to Be Yourself
- 3 Fun Ways to Stimulate Creative Thinking
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.