The First Wife

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

Ah, my lord, are the tidings true,

That thy mother’s jewels are shapen anew?

I hear that a bride has chosen been,

The stars consulted, the parents seen.

Had I been childless, had never there smiled

The brilliant eyes from the face of a child,

Then at least I had understood

This thing they tell me thou findest good.

But I have been down to the River of Death,

With painful footsteps and shuddering breath,

Seven times; thou hast daughters three,

And four young sons who are fair as thee.

I am not unlovely, over my head

Not twenty summers as yet have sped.

‘T is eleven years since my opening life

Was given to thee by my father’s wife.

Ah, those days–They were lovely to me,

When little and shy I waited for thee.

Till I locked my arms round my lover above,

A child in form but a woman in love.

And I bore thy sons, as a woman should,

Year by year, as is meet and good.

Thy mother was ever content with me–

And Oh, Beloved, I worshipped thee!

And now it’s over; alas, my lord,

Better I felt thy sharpest sword.

I hear she is youthful and fair as I

When I came to thee in the days gone by.

Her breasts are firmer; this bosom slips

Somewhat, weighted by children’s lips.

But they were thy children. Oh, lord my king,

Ah, why hast thy heart devised this thing ?

I am not as the women of this thy land,

Meek and timid, broken to hand.

From the distant North I was given to thee,

Whose daughters are passionate, fierce and free,

I could not dwell by a rival’s side,

I seek a bridegroom, as thou a bride.

The night she yieldeth her youth to thee,

Death shall take his pleasure in me.

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Poems in English 

• Mother’s Death 1981 by Michael S Wilson by Poetry In English
• Money, for a Decent Human Life without You by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Migration of the Mind by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Mid-Autumn Moon by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Meeting with Te Rauparaha by Michael O’Leary by Poetry In English
• Matrimony by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• March on, Yes! by Miles by Poetry In English
• Make Love and War by Michael O’Leary by Poetry In English
• Ma Wonders by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• Lullaby of the Onion by Miguel Hernandez by Poetry In English
• Live With Me On Earth Under the Invisible Daylight Moon by Milton Acorn by Poetry In English
• Life of Paradoxes by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Languaculture by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• Key and Knife (Two Haiku) by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• (Inner Tube) by Michael Ondaatje by Michael Ondaatje
• In the Forest of Life by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• If You Ask Me by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• If I Got You by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• I Wish This Lovely Time Never Ends by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• I sink as I sail magnificently by Michael Nikoletseas by Poetry In English

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