Lost Delight

After the Hazara War

I lie alone beneath the Almond blossoms,

Where we two lay together in the spring,

And now, as then, the mountain snows are melting,

This year, as last, the water-courses sing.

That was another spring, and other flowers,

Hung, pink and fragile, on the leafless tree,

The land rejoiced in other running water,

And I rejoiced, because you were with me.

You, with your soft eyes, darkly lashed and shaded,

Your red lips like a living, laughing rose,

Your restless, amber limbs so lithe and slender

Now lost to me. Gone whither no man knows.

You lay beside me singing in the sunshine;

The rough, white fur, unloosened at the neck,

Showed the smooth skin, fair as the Almond blossoms,

On which the sun could find no flaw or fleck.

I lie alone, beneath the Almond flowers,

I hated them to touch you as they fell.

And now, who killed you? worse, Ah, worse, who loves you?

(My soul is burning as men burn in Hell.)

How I have sought you in the crowded cities!

I have been mad, they say, for many days.

I know not how I came here, to the valley,

What fate has led me, through what doubtful ways.

Somewhere I see my sword has done good service,

Some one I killed, who, smiling, used your name,

But in what country? Nay, I have forgotten,

All thought is shrivelled in my heart’s hot flame.

Where are you now, Delight, and where your beauty,

Your subtle curls, and laughing, changeful face?

Bound, bruised and naked (dear God, grant me patience),

And sold in Cabul in the market-place.

I asked of you of all men. Who could tell me?

Among so many captured, sold, or slain,

What fate was yours? (Ah, dear God, grant me patience,

My heart is burnt, is burnt, with fire and pain.)

Oh, lost Delight! my heart is almost breaking,

My sword is broken and my feet are sore,

The people look at me and say in passing,

“He will not leave the village any more.”

For as the evening falls, the fever rises,

With frantic thoughts careering through the brain,

Wild thoughts of you. (Ah, dear God, grant me patience,

My soul is hurt beyond all men call pain.)

I lie alone, beneath the Almond blossoms,

And see the white snow melting on the hills

Till Khorassan is gay with water-courses,

Glad with the tinkling sound of running rills,

And well I know that when the fragile petals

Fall softly, ere the first green leaves appear,

(Ah, for these last few days, God, grant me patience,)

Since Delight is not, I shall not be, here!

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Poems in English 

• A New Year’s Resolution to Leave Dundee by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Humble Heroine by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Descriptive Poem on the Silvery Tay by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Christmas Carol by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• On The Porch At The Frost Place, Franconia, N. H. by William Matthews by Anglo File
• On the Nativity of Christ by William Dunbar by William Dunbar
• On a Soldier Fallen in the Philippines by William Vaughn Moody by Anglo File
• Ode to My Guitar by William Wright Harris by Anglo File
• No Return by William Matthews by Anglo File
• Mingus At The Showplace by William Matthews by Anglo File
• Memory by William Browne by Anglo File
• Lament for the Makers by William Dunbar by William Dunbar
• Job Interview by William Matthews by Anglo File
• In Honour of the City of London by William Dunbar by William Dunbar
• Homer’s Seeing-Eye Dog by William Matthews by Anglo File
• Gloucester Moods by William Vaughn Moody by Anglo File
• Earliest Spring by William Dean Howells by Anglo File
• Composed Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth by Anglo File
• Britannia’s Pastorals by William Browne by Anglo File
• Between the Dusk of a Summer Night by William Ernest Henley by Anglo File

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