A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)
This man has taken my Husband’s life
And laid my Brethren low,
No sister indeed, were I, no wife,
To pardon and let him go.
Yet why does he look so young and slim
As he weak and wounded lies?
How hard for me to be harsh to him
With his soft, appealing eyes.
His hair is ruffled upon the stone
And the slender wrists are bound,
So young! and yet he has overthrown
His scores on the battle ground.
Would I were only a slave to-day,
To whom it were right and meet
To wash the stains of the War away,
The dust from the weary feet.
Were I but one of my serving girls
To solace his pain to rest!
Shake out the sand from the soft loose curls,
And hold him against my breast!
Have we such beauty around our Throne?
Such lithe and delicate strength?
Would God that I were the senseless stone
To support his slender length!
I hate those wounds that trouble my sight,
Unknown! how I wish you lay,
Alone in my silken tent to-night
While I charmed the pain away.
I would lay you down on the Royal bed,
I would bathe your wounds with wine,
And setting your feet against my head
Dream you were lover of mine.
My Crown is heavy upon my hair,
The Jewels weigh on my breast,
All I would leave, with delight, to share
Your pale and passionate rest!
But hands grow restless about their swords,
Lips murmur below their breath,
“The Queen is silent too long!” “My Lords,
–Take him away to death!”
A few random poems:
- The Circus Animals’ Desertion by William Butler Yeats
- Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes by William Shakespeare
- The Gardener XXXVIII: My Love, Once upon a Time by Rabindranath Tagore
- At Queensferry by William Ernest Henley
- To The Nameless Soldier
- A November Night by Sara Teasdale
- Николай Заболоцкий – Подводный город
- Teaken In Apples by William Barnes
- Ode, Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald of Auchencruive by Robert Burns
- The Weaver by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Cradle Song by Sarojini Naidu
- The Woman And The Flame
- If Only
- Light The Festive Candles
- No Regrets by Muralidharan Mudaliar
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
- The French Revolution as it appeared to Enthusiasts by William Wordsworth
- The French Army In Russia, 1812-13 by William Wordsworth
- The French And the Spanish Guerillas by William Wordsworth
- The Fountain by William Wordsworth
- The Forsaken by William Wordsworth
- The Force Of Prayer, Or, The Founding Of Bolton, A Tradition by William Wordsworth
- The Farmer Of Tilsbury Vale by William Wordsworth
- The Fairest, Brightest, Hues Of Ether Fade by William Wordsworth
- The Emigrant Mother by William Wordsworth
- The Eagle and the Dove by William Wordsworth
- The Danish Boy by William Wordsworth
- The Cottager To Her Infant by William Wordsworth
- The Complaint Of A Forsaken Indian Woman by William Wordsworth
- The Childless Father by William Wordsworth
- The Brothers by William Wordsworth
- The Birth Of Love by William Wordsworth
- The Affliction Of Margaret by William Wordsworth
- Surprised By Joy by William Wordsworth
- Stray Pleasures by William Wordsworth
- Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known by William Wordsworth
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.