A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)
I was sold to the Rao of Ilore,
Slender and tall was he.
When his litter carried him down the street
I peeped through the thatch to see.
Ah, the eyes of the Rao of Ilore,
My lover that was to be!
The hair that lay on his youthful brow
Was curled like an ocean wave;
His eyes were lit with a tender smile,
But his lips were soft and grave.
For sake of these things I was still with joy
When the silver coins were paid,
And they took me up to the Palace gates,
Delighted and unafraid.
Ah, the eyes of the Rao of Ilore,
May never their brilliance fade!
So near was I to the crown of life!
Ten thousand times, alas!
The Diwan leant from the latticed hall,
Looked down and saw me pass.
He begged for me from the Rao of Ilore,
Who answered, “She is thine,
Thou wert ever more than a father to me,
And thy desires are mine.”
Ah, the eyes of the Rao of Ilore
That never had looked in mine!
My years were spent in the Diwan’s Courts,
My youth died down that day.
For sake of thine own content of mind
My lost beloved, I pray
That never my Lord a love may know
Like that he threw away.
Ah, the eyes of the Rao of Ilore,
Who threw my life away!
A few random poems:
- The Mead A-Mow’d by William Barnes
- A Singer by William Allingham
- Twins by Vinko Kalinić
- I was Looking a Long While. by Walt Whitman
- absent-mindedness; or I Dream of Spices by Raj Arumugam
- Prelude by Shaunna Harper
- Олег Сердобольский – Угадай, в какой руке
- Love Sonnet XXV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- Гавриил Державин – Храповицкому (Храповицкий! дружбы знаки)
- “`Father, farewell! Be not distressed” poem – Alfred Austin
- The Eagle and the Dove by William Wordsworth
- Asleep! O Sleep A Little While, White Pearl! poem – John Keats poems
- Who Is This? by Rabindranath Tagore
- An English Breeze by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Олег Сердобольский – Играли в шахматы слоны
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
- Ballade Made In The Hot Weather by William Ernest Henley
- Back-View by William Ernest Henley
- Attadale, West Highlands by William Ernest Henley
- Arabian Night’s Entertainments by William Ernest Henley
- Apparition by William Ernest Henley
- Anterotics by William Ernest Henley
- Andante Con Moto by William Ernest Henley
- Allegro Maestoso by William Ernest Henley
- After by William Ernest Henley
- A Wink From Hesper by William Ernest Henley
- A Desolate Shore by William Ernest Henley
- A Child by William Ernest Henley
- A Bowl Of Roses by William Ernest Henley
- The Swamp Fox by William Gilmore Simms
- The Lost Pleiad by William Gilmore Simms
- The Decay Of A People by William Gilmore Simms
- The Bard by William Gilmore Simms
- The Angel Of The Church by William Gilmore Simms
- Sumter In Ruins by William Gilmore Simms
- Song In March by William Gilmore Simms
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.