Why above others was I so blessed
And honoured? to be chosen one
To hold you, sleeping, against my breast,
As now I may hold your only son.
Twelve months ago; that wonderful night!
You gave your life to me in a kiss;
Have I done well, for that past delight,
In return, to have given you this?
Look down at his face, your face, beloved,
His eyes are azure as yours are blue.
In every line of his form is proved
How well I loved you, and only you.
I felt the secret hope at my heart
Turned suddenly to the living joy,
And knew that your life and mine had part
As golden grains in a brass alloy.
And learning thus, that your child was mine,
Thrilled by the sense of its stirring life,
I held myself as a sacred shrine
Afar from pleasure, and pain, and strife,
That all unworthy I might not be
Of that you had deigned to cause to dwell
Hidden away in the heart of me,
As white pearls hide in a dusky shell.
Do you remember, when first you laid
Your lips on mine, that enchanted night?
My eyes were timid, my lips afraid,
You seemed so slender and strangely white.
I always tremble; the moments flew
Swiftly to dawn that took you away,
But this is a small and lovely you
Content to rest in my arms all day.
Oh, since you have sought me, Lord, for this,
And given your only child to me,
My life devoted to yours and his,
Whilst I am living, will always be.
And after death, through the long To Be,
(Which, I think, must surely keep love’s laws,)
I, should you chance to have need of me,
Am ever and always, only yours.
A few random poems:
- The Aisne
- The Heritage by Siegfried Sassoon
- Davideis A Sacred Poem Of The Troubles Of David Excerpt
- A man toiled on a burning road by Stephen Crane
- Houses Of Dreams by Sara Teasdale
- Олег Сердобольский – Играли в шахматы слоны
- The beauty of the heart by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- A Bronze Head by William Butler Yeats
- A Little Memory
- With No Experience In Such Matters by Stephen Dunn
- The First Part: Sonnet 14 – Nor Arne, nor Mincius, nor stately Tiber, by William Drummond
- inscription on Mr. Syme’s crystal goblet by Robert Burns
- Алексей Плещеев – Ёлка в школе
- Elegy, Imitated From One Of Akenside’s Blank-Verse Inscriptions by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Virginibus Puerisque
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
- A Farewell To Youth poem – Alfred Austin
- A Dream Of England poem – Alfred Austin
- A Dialogue At Fiesole poem – Alfred Austin
- A Defence Of English Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- A Country Nosegay poem – Alfred Austin
- A Christmas Carol poem – Alfred Austin
- A Captive Throstle poem – Alfred Austin
- A Border Burn poem – Alfred Austin
- A Birthday Present poem – Alfred Austin
- You Smile Upon Your Friend To-Day poem – A. E. Housman
- White in the Moon the Long Road Lies poem – A. E. Housman
- When the Lad for Longing Sigh poem – A. E. Housman
- When the Lad for Longing Sigh poem – A. E. Housman
- When Smoke Stood Up From Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- When Smoke Stood Up From Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- When I Watch the Living Meet poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- When I Watch the Living Meet poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- When I Came Last to Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- When I Came Last to Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- Westward on the High-Hilled Plains poem – A. E. Housman
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.