Adela Florence Cory Nicolson Short Poems

Famous Short Adela Florence Cory Nicolson Poems. Short poetry by famous poet Adela Florence Cory Nicolson. A collection of the all-time best Adela Florence Cory Nicolson short poems

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Malay Song  

   When first I loved, I gave my very soul
   Utterly unreserved to Love's control,
   But Love deceived me, wrenched my youth away
   And made the gold of life for ever grey.
   Long I lived lonely, yet I tried in vain
   With any other Joy to stifle pain;
   There is no other joy, I learned to know,
   And so returned to Love, as long ago.
   Yet I, this little while ere I go hence,
   Love very lightly now, in self-defence.

Malaria  

   A little breeze blew over the sea,
       And it came from far away,
   Across the fields of millet and rice,
   All warm with sunshine and sweet with spice,
   It lifted his curls and kissed him thrice,
       As upon the deck he lay.

   It said, "Oh, idle upon the sea,
       Awake and with sleep have done,
   Haul up the widest sail of the prow,
   And come with me to the rice fields now,
   She longs, oh, how can I tell you how,
       To show you your first-born son!"

Kashmiri Song by Juma  

   You never loved me, and yet to save me,
   One unforgetable night you gave me
   Such chill embraces as the snow-covered heights
   Receive from clouds, in northern, Auroral nights.
   Such keen communion as the frozen mere
   Has with immaculate moonlight, cold and clear.
   And all desire,
   Like failing fire,
   Died slowly, faded surely, and sank to rest
   Against the delicate chillness of your breast.

The Garden of Kama:  

   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.

Request  

   Give me your self one hour; I do not crave
     For any love, or even thought, of me.
   Come, as a Sultan may caress a slave
     And then forget for ever, utterly.

   Come! as west winds, that passing, cool and wet,
     O'er desert places, leave them fields in flower
   And all my life, for I shall not forget,
     Will keep the fragrance of that perfect hour!

Song of the Colours: by Taj Mahomed  

   Dear is my inlaid sword; across the Border
   It brought me much reward; dear is my Mistress,
   The jewelled treasure of an amorous hour.
   Dear beyond measure are my dreams and Fancies.

   These I adore; for these I live and labour,
   Holding them more than sword or jewelled Mistress,
   For this indeed may rust, and that prove faithless,
   But, till my limbs are dust, I have my Fancies.

Song of Khan Zada  

   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 to leave me, told me so,—
   I kissed your feet and let you go.

The Aloe  

   My life was like an Aloe flower, beneath an orient sky,
   Your sunshine touched it for an hour; it blossomed but to die.

   Torn up, cast out, on rubbish heaps where red flames work their will
   Each atom of the Aloe keeps the flower-time fragrance still.

When Love is Over  

   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
     Because it had chanced to cool your hands;
   When love is over, how little of love
     Even the lover understands!

Verses  

   You are my God, and I would fain adore You
     With sweet and secret rites of other days.
   Burn scented oil in silver lamps before You,
     Pour perfume on Your feet with prayer and praise.

   Yet are we one; Your gracious condescension
     Granted, and grants, the loveliness I crave.
   One, in the perfect sense of Eastern mention,
     "Gold and the Bracelet, Water and the Wave."

Verses: Faiz Ulla  

   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,—
   Its plaintive murmurs seem to say
   "I wait the sorrows of the day."

The Temple Dancing Girl  

   This passion is but an ember
     Of a Sun, of a Fire, long set;
   I could not live and remember,
     And so I love and forget.

   You say, and the tone is fretful,
     That my mourning days were few,
   You call me over forgetful—
     My God, if you only knew!

There is no Breeze to Cool the Heat of Love  

   As those who eat a Luscious Fruit, sunbaked,
     Full of sweet juice, with zest, until they find
   It finished, and their appetite unslaked,
     And so return and eat the pared-off rind;—

   We, who in Youth, set white and careless teeth
     In the Ripe Fruits of Pleasure while they last,
   Later, creep back to gnaw the cast-off sheath,
     And find there is no Rival like the Past.