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


I

Who was it held that Love was soothing or sweet?

Mine is a painful fire, at its whitest heat.

Who said that Beauty was ever a gentle joy?

Thine is a sword that flashes but to destroy.

Though mine eyes rose up from thy Beauty’s banquet, calm and refreshed,

My lips, that were granted naught, can find no rest.

My soul was linked with thine, through speech and silent hours,

As the sound of two soft flutes combined, or the scent of sister flowers.

But the body, that wretched slave of the Sultan, Mind,

Who follows his master ever, but far behind,

Nothing was granted him, and every rebellious cell

Rises up with angry protest, “It is not well!

Night is falling; thou hast departed; I am alone;

And the Last Sweetness of Love thou hast not given–I have not known!”

II

Somewhere, Oh, My Beloved One, the house is standing,

Waiting for thee and me; for our first caresses.

It may be a river-boat, or a wave-washed landing,

The shade of a tree in the jungle’s dim recesses,

Some far-off mountain tent, ill-pitched and lonely,

Or the naked vault of the purple heavens only.

But the Place is waiting there; till the Hour shall show it,

And our footsteps, following Fate, find it and know it.

Where we shall worship the greatest of all the Gods in his pomp and power,–

I sometimes think that I shall not care to survive that hour!

divider_poems

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 

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