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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• Эмиль Верхарн – Завершение by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Занавески by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Законы by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Заблуждение by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Я радость бытия принес тебе в подарок by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Я покидаю сна густую сень by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Хвала человеческому телу by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Холод by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Хлебопечение by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Вперед by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Вот лампа зажжена by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Восстание by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Воскресное утро by Émile Verhaeren
• Эмиль Верхарн – Вокруг моего дома by Émile Verhaeren
• Sergei Esenin (Serguei Yesenin, Sergueï Essénine) – Sounds of Sorrow by Fledermaus
• Джон Мильтон – Псалом 8 by John Milton
• Джон Мильтон – Псалом 1 by John Milton
• Джон Мильтон – По случаю своего двадцатитрехлетия by John Milton
• Джон Мильтон – О своей слепоте by John Milton
• Джон Мильтон – О Шекспире by John Milton

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