Who does not feel desire unending
To solace through his daily strife,
With some mysterious Mental Blending,
The hungry loneliness of life?
Until, by sudden passion shaken,
As terriers shake a rat at play,
He finds, all blindly, he has taken
The old, Hereditary way.
Yet, in the moment of communion,
The very heart of passion’s fire,
His spirit spurns the mortal union,
“Not this, not this, the Soul’s desire!”
* * * *
Oh You, by whom my life is riven,
And reft away from my control,
Take back the hours of passion given!
Love me one moment from your soul.
Although I once, in ardent fashion,
Implored you long to give me this;
(In hopes to stem, or stifle, passion)
Your hair to touch, your lips to kiss
Now that your gracious self has granted
The loveliness you hold as naught,
I find, alas! not that I wanted–
Possession has not stifled Thought.
Desire its aim has only shifted,–
Built hopes upon another plan,
And I in love for you have drifted
Beyond all passion known to man.
Beyond all dreams of soft caresses
The solacing of any kiss,–
Beyond the fragrance of your tresses
(Once I had sold my soul for this!)
But now I crave no mortal union
(Thanks for that sweetness in the past);
I need some subtle, strange communion,
Some sense that _I_ join _you_, at last.
Long past the pulse and pain of passion,
Long left the limits of all love,–
I crave some nearer, fuller fashion,
Some unknown way, beyond, above,–
Some infinitely inner fusion,
As Wave with Water; Flame with Fire,–
Let me dream once the dear delusion
That I am You, Oh, Heart’s Desire!
Your kindness lent to my caresses
That beauty you so lightly prize,–
The midnight of your sable tresses,
The twilight of your shadowed eyes.
Ah, for that gift all thanks are given!
Yet, Oh, adored, beyond control,
Count all the passionate past forgiven
And love me once, once, from your soul.
A few random poems:
- To the Muse poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
- 歐盟
- Nube by Manolo Arriola
- NOCTURNAL EMBERS AND LOST LIPS by Steve Troyanovich
- Has Your Soul Sipped? by Wilfred Owen
- Tears
- A Hand-Mirror. by Walt Whitman
- Two Views Of A Cadaver Room by Sylvia Plath
- The Road To Ruin by Siegfried Sassoon
- Psalm 19: Coeli Enarrant by Sir Philip Sidney
- Олег Григорьев – Стаканы
- Guilt And Sorrow, Or, Incidents Upon Salisbury Plain by William Wordsworth
- The Cloak, The Boat And The Shoes by William Butler Yeats
- Омар Хайям – О, кумир, Дружбу ты почему прервала
- Primer by Rita Dove
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
- The French Revolution as it appeared to Enthusiasts by William Wordsworth
- The French Army In Russia, 1812-13 by William Wordsworth
- The French And the Spanish Guerillas by William Wordsworth
- The Fountain by William Wordsworth
- The Forsaken by William Wordsworth
- The Force Of Prayer, Or, The Founding Of Bolton, A Tradition by William Wordsworth
- The Farmer Of Tilsbury Vale by William Wordsworth
- The Fairest, Brightest, Hues Of Ether Fade by William Wordsworth
- The Emigrant Mother by William Wordsworth
- The Eagle and the Dove by William Wordsworth
- The Danish Boy by William Wordsworth
- The Cottager To Her Infant by William Wordsworth
- The Complaint Of A Forsaken Indian Woman by William Wordsworth
- The Childless Father by William Wordsworth
- The Brothers by William Wordsworth
- The Birth Of Love by William Wordsworth
- The Affliction Of Margaret by William Wordsworth
- Surprised By Joy by William Wordsworth
- Stray Pleasures by William Wordsworth
- Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known by William Wordsworth
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.