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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• The Great Palaces Of Versailles by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Teach Us To Number Our Days by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Primer by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Persephone, Falling by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Mushrooms by Rina Ferrarelli by Poetry In English
• Ludwig Von Beethoven’s Return To Vienna by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Lines Composed on the Body Politic by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Lady Freedom Among Us by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• I hear the roar of a Harley… by River Urke by Poetry In English
• Heart To Heart by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Hades’ Pitch by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Fifth Grade Autobiography by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Exit by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Dawn Revisited by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Chocolate by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Cavern in Paradise by Rita Odessa Villaruel by Poetry In English
• Broccoli by Rina Ferrarelli by Poetry In English
• Birth Of A Flower by Riss Ryker by Poetry In English
• American Smooth by Rita Dove by Poetry In English
• Amarene by Rina Ferrarelli by Poetry In English

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