Adela Florence Cory Nicolson Poems

A collection of select Adela Florence Cory Nicolson famous poems that were written by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson or written about the poet by other famous poets. PoetrySoup is a comprehensive educational resource of the greatest poems and poets on history.

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Sampan Song

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   You will be mine; those lightly dancing feet,
     Falling as softly on the careless street
   As the wind-loosened petals of a flower,
     Will bring you here, at the Appointed Hour.

   And all the Temple's little links and laws
     Will not for...Read more of this...

No Rival Like the Past

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Why above others was I so blessed
      And honoured? to be chosen one
   To hold you, sleeping, against my breast,
      As now I may hold your only son.

   Twelve months ago; that wonderful night!
      You gave your life...Read more of this...

Verses: Faiz Ulla

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Just in the hush before dawn
   A little wistful wind is born.
   A little chilly errant breeze,
   That thrills the grasses, stirs the trees.
   And, as it wanders on its way,
   While yet the night is cool and dark,
   The first carol of the lark,—
...Read more of this...

Fate Knows no Tears

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Just as the dawn of Love was breaking
          Across the weary world of grey,
   Just as my life once more was waking
          As roses waken late in May,
   Fate, blindly cruel and havoc-making,
  ...Read more of this...

"Less than the Dust"

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Less than the dust, beneath thy Chariot wheel,
   Less than the rust, that never stained thy Sword,
   Less than the trust thou hast in me, O Lord,
                          ...Read more of this...

This Month the Almonds Bloom at Kandahar

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   The singer only sang the Joy of Life,
     For all too well, alas! the singer knew
   How hard the daily toil, how keen the strife,
     How salt the falling tear; the joys how few.

   He who thinks hard soon finds it hard to live,
 ...Read more of this...

Sea Song

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   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...Read more of this...

Three Songs of Zahir-u-Din

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Who does not feel desire unending
     To solace through his daily strife,
   With some mysterious Mental Blending,
     The hungry loneliness of life?

   Until, by sudden passion shaken,
     As terriers shake a rat at play,
   He finds, all blindly, he...Read more of this...

When Love is Over

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Song of Khan Zada

   Only in August my heart was aflame,
     Catching the scent of your Wind-stirred hair,
   Now, though you spread it to soften my sleep
     Through the night, I should hardly care.

   Only last August I drank that water
  ...Read more of this...

Kashmiri Song

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   "Is it safe to lie so lonely when the summer twilight closes
   No companion maidens, only you asleep among the roses?

   "Thirteen, fourteen years you number, and your hair is soft and scented,
   Perilous is such a slumber in the twilight all untented.

   "Lonely loveliness means danger, lying in...Read more of this...

Till I Wake

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Alone, I wait, till her twilight gate
                        The Night slips quietly through,
   With shadow and gloom, and purple bloom,
             ...Read more of this...

Song of Khan Zada

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   As one may sip a Stranger's Bowl
   You gave yourself but not your soul.
   I wonder, now that time has passed,
   Where you will come to rest at last.

   You gave your beauty for an hour,
   I held it gently as a flower.
   You wished...Read more of this...

Feroza

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Fine woven silk, from the further East, should conceal your beauty,
   Clinging around you in amorous folds; caressive, silken,
   Beautiful long-lashed, sweet-voiced Persian boys should, kneeling, serve you,
   And the floor beneath your sandalled feet should be smooth and golden,
           ...Read more of this...

Story by Lalla-ji, the Priest

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   He loved the Plant with a keen delight,
     A passionate fervour, strange to see,
   Tended it ardently, day and night,
     Yet never a flower lit up the tree.

   The leaves were succulent, thick, and green,
     And, sessile, out of the snakelike...Read more of this...

The Plains

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
               How one loves them
   These wide horizons; whether Desert or Sea,—
          Vague and vast and infinite; faintly clear—
   Surely, hid in the far away, unknown "There,"
      ...Read more of this...

Song of Taj Mahomed

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   'T is eight miles out and eight miles in,
        Just at the break of morn.
   'T is ice without and flame within,
        To gain a kiss at dawn!

   Far, where the Lilac Hills arise
     ...Read more of this...

Unforgotten

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Do you ever think of me? you who died
       Ere our Youth's first fervour chilled,
   With your soft eyes and your pulses stilled
       Lying alone, aside,
   Do you ever think of me, left in the light,
   From the endless...Read more of this...

"Lost Delight"

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   After the Hazara War

   I lie alone beneath the Almond blossoms,
        Where we two lay together in the spring,
   And now, as then, the mountain snows are melting,
        This year, as last, the water-courses sing.

   That was...Read more of this...

The Evening Sky was as Green as Jade

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   The evening sky was as green as Jade,
      As Emerald turf by Lotus lake,
   Behind the Kafila far she strayed,
      (The Pearls are lost if the Necklace break!)

   A lingering freshness touched the air
      From palm-trees, clustered around...Read more of this...

The Garden of Kama:

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   When I am dying, lean over me tenderly, softly,
     Stoop, as the yellow roses droop in the wind from the South.
   So I may, when I wake, if there be an Awakening,
     Keep, what lulled me to sleep, the touch of your lips on my mouth....Read more of this...

The Teak Forest

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Whether I loved you who shall say?
   Whether I drifted down your way
   In the endless River of Chance and Change,
   And you woke the strange
   Unknown longings that have no names,
   But burn us all in their hidden flames,
       ...Read more of this...

His Rubies: Told by Valgovind

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Against the planks of the cabin side,
       (So slight a thing between them and me,)
   The great waves thundered and throbbed and sighed,
       The great green waves of the Indian sea!

   Your face was white as the foam is white,
 ...Read more of this...

Camp Follower's Song, Gomal River

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Along the hot and endless road,
     Calm and erect, with haggard eyes,
   The prisoner bore his fetters' load
     Beneath the scorching, azure skies.

   Serene and tall, with brows unbent,
     Without a hope, without a friend,
   He, under escort, onward...Read more of this...

"In the Early, Pearly Morning":

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Song by Valgovind

   The fields are full of Poppies, and the skies are very blue,
   By the Temple in the coppice, I wait, Beloved, for you.
   The level land is sunny, and the errant air is gay,
   With scent of rose and honey; will you come to me to-day?

...Read more of this...

Song by Gulbaz

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   Love, let me thank you for this!
     Now we have drifted apart,
   Wandered away from the sea,—
     For the fresh touch of your kiss,
   For the young warmth of your heart,
     For your youth given to me.

   Thanks: for...Read more of this...

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