Song Of The Peri

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

Beauty, the Gift of Gifts, I give to thee.

Pleasure and love shall spring around thy feet

As through the lake the lotuses arise

Pinkly transparent and divinely sweet.

I give thee eyes aglow like morning stars,

Delicate brows, a mist of sable tresses,

That all the journey of thy lie may be

Lit up by love and softened by caresses.

For those who once were proud and softly bred

Shall, kneeling, wait thee as thou passest by,

They who were pure shall stretch forth eager hands

Crying, “Thy pity, Lord, before we die!”

And one shall murmur, “If the sun at dawn

Shall open and caress a happy flower,

What blame to him, although the blossom fade

In the full splendour of his noontide power?”

And one, “If aloes close together grow

It well may chance a plant shall wounded be,

Pierced by the thorntips of another’s leaves,

Thus am I hurt unconsciously by thee.”

For some shall die and many more shall sin,

Suffering for thy sake till seven times seven,

Because of those most perfect lips of thine

Which held the power to make or mar their heaven.

And though thou givest back but cruelty,

Their love, persistent, shall not heed nor care,

All those whose ears are fed with blame of thee

Shall say, “It may be so, but he was fair.”

Ay, those who lost the whole of youth for thee,

Made early and for ever, shamed and sad,

Shall sigh, re-living some sweet memory,

“Ah, once it was his will to make me glad.”

Thy nights shall be as bright as summer days,

The sequence of thy sins shall seem as duty,

Since I have given thee, Oh, Gift of Gifts!–

The pale perfection of unrivalled beauty.

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• Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• On the Beach at Night, Alone. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• On Journeys Through The States. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Old Ireland. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Offerings. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Of the Visage of Things. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Of Him I Love Day and Night. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• O You Whom I Often and Silently Come. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• O Tan-faced Prairie Boy. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• O Sun of Real Peace. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• O Star of France. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• O Living Always—Always Dying. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• O Hymen! O Hymenee! by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• O Bitter Sprig! Confession Sprig! by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Now List to my Morning’s Romanza. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Now Finale to the Shore. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman
• Not Youth Pertains to Me. by Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman

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