Song Of The Devoted Slave

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

There is one God: Mahomed his Prophet. Had I his power

I would take the topmost peaks of the snow-clad Himalayas,

And would range them around your dwelling, during the heats of summer,

To cool the airs that fan your serene and delicate presence,

Had I the power.

Your courtyard should ever be filled with the fleetest of camels

Laden with inlaid armour, jewels and trappings for horses,

Ripe dates from Egypt, and spices and musk from Arabia.

And the sacred waters of Zem-Zem well, transported thither,

Should bubble and flow in your chamber, to bathe the delicate

Slender and wayworn feet of my Lord, returning from travel,

Had I the power.

Fine woven silk, from the further East, should conceal your beauty,

Clinging around you in amorous folds; caressive, silken,

Beautiful long-lashed, sweet-voiced Persian boys should, kneeling, serve you,

And the floor beneath your sandalled feet should be smooth and golden,

Had I the power.

And if ever your clear and stately thoughts should turn to women,

Kings’ daughters, maidens, should be appointed to your caresses,

That the youth and the strength of my Lord might never be wasted

In light or sterile love; but enrich the world with his children.

Had I the power.

Whilst I should sit in the outer court of the Water Palace

To await the time when you went forth, for Pleasure or Warfare,

Descending the stairs rose crowned, or armed and arrayed in purple,–

To mark the place where your steps have fallen, and kiss the footprints,

Had I the power.

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Poems in English 

• Refrigerator, 1957 by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• Red Planet Haiku by Thomas J Camp by Poetry In English
• Plague Victims Catapulted Over Walls Into Besieged City by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• On The Death Of A Favourite Cat, Drowned In A Tub Of Gold Fishes by Thomas Gray by Poetry In English
• Ode On The Spring by Thomas Gray by Poetry In English
• Ode On The Pleasure Arising From Vicissitude by Thomas Gray by Poetry In English
• Ode On A Distant Prospect Of Eton College by Thomas Gray by Poetry In English
• My Country Place by Thomas J Camp by Poetry In English
• Motel Seedy by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• Monsters under the bed by Thomas J Camp by Poetry In English
• Marine Snow At Mid-Depths And Down by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• Lucky by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• Thomas Gray – Thomas Gray by Poetry In English
• Hymn To Adversity by Thomas Gray by Poetry In English
• Henry Clay’s Mouth by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• He Has Lived In Many Houses by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• Gorgeous Surfaces by Thomas Lux by Poetry In English
• Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray by Poetry In English
• Drummer Boy by Thomas J Camp by Poetry In English
• Becalmed and Bewildered by Thomas J Camp by Poetry In English

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