Surface Rights

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

Drifting, drifting down the River,

Tawny current and foam-flecked tide,

Sorrowful songs of lonely boatmen,

Mournful forests on either side.

Thine are the outcrops’ glittering blocks,

The quartz where the rich pyrites gleam,

The golden treasure of unhewn rocks

And the loose gold in the stream.

But,–the dim vast forests along the shore,

That whisper wonderful things o’ nights,–

These are things that I value more,

My beautiful “surface rights.”

Drifting, drifting down the River,–

Stars a-tremble about the sky–

Ah, my lover, my heart is breaking,

Breaking, breaking, I know not why.

Why is Love such a sorrowful thing?

This I never could understand;

Pain and passion are linked together,

Ever I find them hand in hand.

Loose thy hair in its soft profusion,

Let thy lashes caress thy cheek,–

These are the things that express thy spirit,

What is the need to explain or speak?

Drifting, drifting along the River,

Under the light of a wan low moon,

Steady, the paddles; Boatmen, steady,–

Why should we reach the sea so soon?

See where the low spit cuts the water,

What is that misty wavering light?

Only the pale datura flowers

Blossoming through the silent night.

What is the fragrance in thy tresses?

‘T is the scent of the champa’s breath;

The meaning of champa bloom is passion–

And of datura–death!

Sweet are thy ways and thy strange caresses,

That sear as flame, and exult as wine.

But I care only for that wild moment

When my soul arises and reaches thine.

Wistful voices of wild birds calling–

Far, faint lightning towards the West,–

Twinkling lights of a Tyah homestead,–

Ruddy glow on a girl’s bare breast–

Drifting boats on a mournful River,

Shifting thoughts in a dreaming mind,–

We two, seeking the Sea, together,–

When we reach it,–what shall we find?

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Poems in English 

• Николай Глазков – Дремота обрела права by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Дождь by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Должны мы все свой пай нести by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Девятое мая by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Давно хотел сложить стихи by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Чтоб улыбалось счастье by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Что ни год, идёт вперёд by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Чингисхан, Батый, Аттила by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Четыре времени года by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Бывают в нашей жизни величины by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Быть хочешь постоянно пьяным by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Была зима by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Богатырское распутье by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Без поражений нет побед by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Баллада о трактористе и ритуальном камне by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – Бабье лето by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – А минувшее все непонятнее ребусов by Николай Глазков
• Николай Глазков – 9-е мая by Николай Глазков
• Николай Гербель – Зной by Николай Гербель (Härbel)
• Николай Гербель – Введение к поэме by Николай Гербель (Härbel)

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