The Tom Toms

A poem by Violet Nicolson, Lawrence Hope, Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865 – 1904)

Dost thou hear the tom-toms throbbing,

Like a lonely lover sobbing

For the beauty that is robbing him of all his life’s delight?

Plaintive sounds, restrained, enthralling,

Seeking through the twilight falling

Something lost beyond recalling, in the darkness of the night.

Oh, my little, loved Firoza,

Come and nestle to me closer,

Where the golden-balled Mimosa makes a canopy above,

For the day, so hot and burning,

Dies away, and night, returning,

Sets thy lover’s spirit yearning for thy beauty and thy love.

Soon will come the rosy warning

Of the bright relentless morning,

When, thy soft caresses scorning, I shall leave thee in the shade.

All the day my work must chain me,

And its weary bonds restrain me,

For I may not re-attain thee till the light begins to fade.

But at length the long day endeth,

As the cool of night descendeth

His last strength thy lover spendeth in returning to thy breast,

Where beneath the Babul nightly,

While the planets shimmer whitely,

And the fire-flies glimmer brightly, thou shalt give him love and rest.

Far away, across the distance,

The quick-throbbing drums’ persistence

Shall resound, with soft insistence, in the pauses of delight,

Through the sequence of the hours,

While the starlight and the flowers

Consecrate this love of ours, in the Temple of the Night.

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Poems in English 

• Владимир Британишский – Отечественные записки 1840-х годов by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – От низменного к неземному by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Округлы и оголены by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Океан с континентом воюют by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Огонь by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Очереди by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – О, растенья-пустынники дюнных песков by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – О чем размышляют by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – О человеке by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Ностальгия by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Но особенно снился мне вздыбленный мост by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Никитенко by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Несбывшееся by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Некрасов by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Не поселятся ли олени by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Не избранностью, не особенностью by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – Наш учитель истории by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – На полпути в Илимск by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – На Марсовом поле by Владимир Британишский
• Владимир Британишский – По волхову by Владимир Британишский

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