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.
A few random poems:
- Шекспир – Не позволяю помыслам ревнивым – Сонет 57
- At the bottom by Vasil Slavov
- Николай Огарев – Прощанье с краем, откуда не уезжал
- Ольга Седакова – Деревья, сильный ветер
- Reverie Of Ormuz The Persian
- Ulster by Rudyard Kipling
- Джон Китс – Дуралейная песня
- The Kiss: A Dialogue by Robert Herrick
- From Death
- Robert Burns: Epistle To Dr. Blacklock: Ellisland, 21st Oct., 1789
- Sonnet # 18 by Luis A. Estable
- Song—A Man’s a Man for a’ that by Robert Burns
- Address to a Haggis by Robert Burns
- A Love By The Sea by William Ernest Henley
- Lover’s Gifts V: I Would Ask For Still More by Rabindranath Tagore
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Владимир Высоцкий – Марш студентов-физиков
- Владимир Высоцкий – Марш аквалангистов
- Владимир Высоцкий – Марине
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мао Цзедун большой шалун
- Владимир Высоцкий – Люблю тебя
- Владимир Высоцкий – Лукоморья больше нет
- Владимир Высоцкий – Лежит камень в степи
- Владимир Высоцкий – Ленинградская блокада
- Владимир Высоцкий – Купола
- Владимир Высоцкий – Куплеты Бенгальского
- Владимир Высоцкий – Кто за чем бежит
- Владимир Высоцкий – Красное, зелёное, жёлтое, лиловое
- Владимир Высоцкий – Космонавту Ю. Гагарину
- Владимир Высоцкий – Корабли постоят, и ложатся на курс
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка лягушонка Джимми и ящерки Билли
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мартовский Заяц
- Владимир Высоцкий – Королевский крокей
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Сашки Червня
- Владимир Высоцкий – Одесские куплеты
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песенка про прыгуна в длину
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works

Violet Nicolson ( 1865 – 1904); otherwise known as Adela Florence Nicolson (née Cory), was an English poetess who wrote under the pseudonym of Laurence Hope, however she became known as Violet Nicolson. In the early 1900s, she became a best-selling author. She committed suicide and is buried in Madras, now Chennai, India.