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:
- Eve by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Sabbaths 2001 by Wendell Berry
- emotional bond by Raj Arumugam
- The Iliad: Book VI (excerpt) poem – Alexander Pope
- So You Say by Mark Strand
- Orlando Furioso Canto 2 by Ludovico Ariosto
- “`Shepherd swains that feed your flocks” poem – Alfred Austin
- Вера Павлова – Я дождевой червь
- Buried Love by Sara Teasdale
- On Fair Compassion by Nithin Purple
- The Man In The Bowler Hat
- Model For The Laureate by William Butler Yeats
- Ольга Седакова – Старый поэт (Постскриптум)
- My iPod by Roland Bastien
- The Dead Woman by Pablo Neruda, La Muerta
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 Ever-Patient Woman poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sun Light poem – Ammar Hussain poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sacred Epiphany poem – Ammar Nadeem poems | Poems and Poetry
- Prize poem – Amanda James DIll poems | Poems and Poetry
- Poems from Makiwane poem – Amitabh Mitra poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Peace of Mind poem – Amit Shankar Saha poems | Poems and Poetry
- Oh Mother poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ode poem – Amr ibn Kulthum poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nocturno poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nigra Sum poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
- My Mask poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mujer Libanesa I poem – Amir Ibn Tawfik poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mother Ocean poem – Amy E. Johnsen poems | Poems and Poetry
- Milagros Retenidos poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Midnight poem – Amy Michelle Mosier poems | Poems and Poetry
- Love is Immortal poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ka ‘Ba poem – Amiri Baraka poems | Poems and Poetry
- In an Effort to Translate Solitude poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
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.