A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)
Oh, Masters, you who rule the world,
Will you not wait with me awhile,
When swords are sheathed and sails are furled,
And all the fields with harvest smile?
I would not waste your time for long,
I ask you but, when you are tired,
To read how by the weak, the strong
Are weighed and worshipped and desired.
When weary of the Mart, the Loom,
The Withering-house, the Riffle-blocks,
The Barrack-square, the Engine-room,
The pick-axe, ringing on the rocks,–
When tents are pitched and work is done,
While restful twilight broods above,
By fresh-lit lamp, or dying sun,
See in my songs how women love.
We shared your lonely watch by night,
We knew you faithful at the helm,
Our thoughts went with you through the fight,
That saved a soul,–or wrecked a realm
Ah, how our hearts leapt forth to you,
In pride and joy, when you prevailed,
And when you died, serene and true:
–We wept in silence when you failed!
Oh, brain that did not gain the gold!
Oh, arm, that could not wield the sword,
Here is the love, that is not sold,
Here are the hearts to hail you Lord!
You played and lost the game? What then?
The rules are harsh and hard we know,
You, still, Oh, brothers, are the men
Whom we in secret reverence so.
Your work was waste? Maybe your share
Lay in the hour you laughed and kissed;
Who knows but what your son shall wear
The laurels that his father missed?
Ay, you who win, and you who lose,
Whether you triumph,–or despair,–
When your returning footsteps choose
The homeward track, our love is there.
For, since the world is ordered thus,
To you the fame, the stress, the sword,
We can but wait, until to us
You give yourselves, for our reward.
To Whaler’s deck and Coral beach,
To lonely Ranch and Frontier-Fort,
Beyond the narrow bounds of speech
I lay the cable of my thought.
I fain would send my thanks to you,
(Though who am I, to give you praise?)
Since what you are, and work you do,
Are lessons for our easier ways.
‘Neath alien stars your camp-fires glow,
I know you not,–your tents are far.
My hope is but in song to show,
How honoured and dear you are.
A few random poems:
- Impromptu: To Frances Garnet Wolseley poem – Alfred Austin
- Everymaid by John Oxenham
- Couplet 1 poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Lady Freedom Among Us by Rita Dove
- The Fisherman by William Butler Yeats
- Владислав Крапивин – А по ночам у высокого плетня
- At Night poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Haughty Snail-King by Vachel Lindsay
- The Church An’ Happy Zunday by William Barnes
- Effigy Of A Nun by Sara Teasdale
- Георгий Иванов – Там, над Невой зеленоватой
- Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes
- The Frivolity of Dreaming by Mahi Chauhan
- Return Of The Heroes by Siegfried Sassoon
- Гавриил Державин – Желание в горняя
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
- Holding On by Satish Verma
- Hepatica by Satish Verma
- Haltering by Satish Verma
- Half-Man by Satish Verma
- Gyrations by Satish Verma
- Green Circle by Satish Verma
- Gray Dawn by Satish Verma
- Glitches by Satish Verma
- GESTURES by Satish Verma
- Furious Wounds by Satish Verma
- Flirting by Satish Verma
- Flickering Dream by Satish Verma
- Fierce Mooning by Satish Verma
- Father’s Day by Satish Verma
- Faces by Satish Verma
- EXISTENTIAL DILEMMMA by Satish Verma
- Eternal Drift by Satish Verma
- Entranced by Satish Verma
- Enigmatic by Satish Verma
- Engagements by Satish Verma
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.