The Window Overlooking The Harbour

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

Sad is the Evening: all the level sand

Lies left and lonely, while the restless sea,

Tired of the green caresses of the land,

Withdraws into its own infinity.

But still more sad this white and chilly Dawn

Filling the vacant spaces of the sky,

While little winds blow here and there forlorn

And all the stars, weary of shining, die.

And more than desolate, to wake, to rise,

Leaving the couch, where softly sleeping still,

What through the past night made my heaven, lies;

And looking out across the window sill

See, from the upper window’s vantage ground,

Mankind slip into harness once again,

And wearily resume his daily round

Of love and labour, toil and strife and pain.

How the sad thoughts slip back across the night:

The whole thing seems so aimless and so vain.

What use the raptures, passion and delight,

Burnt out; as though they could not wake again.

The worn-out nerves and weary brain repeat

The question: Whither all these passions tend;–

This curious thirst, so painful and so sweet,

So fierce, so very short-lived, to what end?

Even, if seeking for ourselves, the Race,

The only immortality we know,–

Even if from the flower of our embrace

Some spark should kindle, or some fruit should grow,

What were the use? the gain, to us or it,

That we should cause another You or Me,–

Another life, from our light passion lit,

To suffer like ourselves awhile and die.

What aim, what end indeed? Our being runs

In a closed circle. All we know or see

Tends to assure us that a thousand Suns,

Teeming perchance with life, have ceased to be.

Ah, the grey Dawn seems more than desolate,

And the past night of passion worse than waste,

Love but a useless flower, that soon or late,

Turns to a fruit with bitter aftertaste.

Youth, even Youth, seems futile and forlorn

While the new day grows slowly white above.

Pale and reproachful comes the chilly Dawn

After the fervour of a night of love.

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Poems in English 

• Яков Полонский – Одному из усталых by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Ночная дума by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Ночь в Крыму by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Ночь на восточном берегу Черного моря by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Нищий by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Неотвязная by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Не жди by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Наплывает туча с моря by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – На Женевском озере by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – На закате by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – На пути by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – На искусе by Яков Полонский
• Яков Полонский – Н. А. Грибоедова by Яков Полонский
• Юлий Даниэль – Друзьям by Поэзия На Русском
• Юлий Даниэль – Дом by Поэзия На Русском
• Юлий Даниэль – Часовой by Поэзия На Русском
• Юлий Даниэль – Ах, недостреляли, недобили by Поэзия На Русском
• Юлий Даниэль – А в это время by Поэзия На Русском
• Юлиан Анисимов – Весенний дождь by Поэзия На Русском
• Юлиан Анисимов – Стихи мои, нежные гости by Поэзия На Русском

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