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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• Вера Полозкова – И тут он приваливается к оградке by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – И пока он вскакивает с кровати by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – И катись бутылкой по автостраде by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Губы плавя в такой ухмылке by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Горький запах полыни by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Гонево by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Францу Кафке by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Это не прихоть, это не блажь by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Есть дерево, в лесу всего древней by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Для неровного счета by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Детство by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Декабрь by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Да что у меня, нормально всё, так, условно by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Мой великий кардиотерапевт by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Мне бы только хотелось by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Манипенни, твой мальчик, видно, неотвратим by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Полозкова – Мало ли кто by Вера Полозкова
• Вера Звягинцева – Всхожу на мост by Вера Звягинцева
• Вера Звягинцева – Ты не снись мне by Вера Звягинцева
• Вера Звягинцева – Стоишь, не поднимая глаз by Вера Звягинцева

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