The Window Overlooking The Harbour

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

Sad is the Evening: all the level sand

Lies left and lonely, while the restless sea,

Tired of the green caresses of the land,

Withdraws into its own infinity.

But still more sad this white and chilly Dawn

Filling the vacant spaces of the sky,

While little winds blow here and there forlorn

And all the stars, weary of shining, die.

And more than desolate, to wake, to rise,

Leaving the couch, where softly sleeping still,

What through the past night made my heaven, lies;

And looking out across the window sill

See, from the upper window’s vantage ground,

Mankind slip into harness once again,

And wearily resume his daily round

Of love and labour, toil and strife and pain.

How the sad thoughts slip back across the night:

The whole thing seems so aimless and so vain.

What use the raptures, passion and delight,

Burnt out; as though they could not wake again.

The worn-out nerves and weary brain repeat

The question: Whither all these passions tend;–

This curious thirst, so painful and so sweet,

So fierce, so very short-lived, to what end?

Even, if seeking for ourselves, the Race,

The only immortality we know,–

Even if from the flower of our embrace

Some spark should kindle, or some fruit should grow,

What were the use? the gain, to us or it,

That we should cause another You or Me,–

Another life, from our light passion lit,

To suffer like ourselves awhile and die.

What aim, what end indeed? Our being runs

In a closed circle. All we know or see

Tends to assure us that a thousand Suns,

Teeming perchance with life, have ceased to be.

Ah, the grey Dawn seems more than desolate,

And the past night of passion worse than waste,

Love but a useless flower, that soon or late,

Turns to a fruit with bitter aftertaste.

Youth, even Youth, seems futile and forlorn

While the new day grows slowly white above.

Pale and reproachful comes the chilly Dawn

After the fervour of a night of love.

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Poems in English 

• Sonnet (X) : In the search of the physical immortality by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• Sonnet (VIII) : Some left crown , some left land and some into exile by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• Sonnet (IX) : Flesh o flesh ! The momentous , the mortal , the doomed by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• Set me FREE by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• Riposte to the Bard: Sonnet 130 remade in my lady’s image by Neil Outar by Poetry In English
• Rapture by Neil Outar by Poetry In English
• Praises to my motherland ! by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• O the Chimneys by Nelly Sachs by Poetry In English
• Mirage by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• Minnesang by Neil Outar by Poetry In English
• Mama, Come Back by Nellie Wong by Poetry In English
• Mad Nuclear Mushrooms by Adeola Ikuomola by Poetry In English
• Lonely Poets by Ndue Ukaj by Poetry In English
• Know thy SELF by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• Job by Nelly Sachs by Poetry In English
• Immigranten by Ndue Ukaj by Poetry In English
• Illusion of Time by Ndue Ukaj by Poetry In English
• I too want to ESCAPE by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• I know you will remember ME by Neelam Sinha by Poetry In English
• Hummingbird by Nicole M Nugent by Poetry In English

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