Poetry Codex

Victorian

Laurence Hope

1865–1904

Laurence Hope was the pen name of Adela Florence Nicolson (née Cory, 1865–1904), who was raised partly in India and married Colonel Malcolm Nicolson. She took her own life in 1904, two months after his death.

Her passionate verse was presented as translated from Indian poets, but the poems are her own, and she is best known for ‘Kashmiri Song’ (‘Pale hands I love beside the Shalimar’), which was set to music and made famous. The poems here come from India’s Love Lyrics (the American title of The Garden of Kama, 1901) and the posthumous Last Poems (1905).

Poems (129)

  1. Less than the Dust
  2. To the Unattainable
  3. In the Early, Pearly Morning
  4. Reverie of Mahomed Akram at the Tamarind Tank
  5. Verses
  6. Song of Khan Zada
  7. The Teak Forest
  8. Valgovind's Boat Song
  9. Kashmiri Song by Juma
  10. Zira: in Captivity
  11. Marriage Thoughts: by Morsellin Khan
  12. To the Unattainable
  13. Mahomed Akram's Appeal to the Stars
  14. Reminiscence of Mahomed Akram
  15. Story by Lalla-ji, the Priest
  16. Request
  17. Story of Udaipore
  18. Valgovind's Song in the Spring
  19. Youth
  20. When Love is Over
  21. Golden Eyes
  22. Kotri, by the River
  23. Farewell
  24. Afridi Love
  25. Yasmini
  26. Ojira, to Her Lover
  27. Thoughts: Mahomed Akram
  28. Prayer
  29. The Aloe
  30. Memory
  31. The First Lover
  32. Khan Zada's Song on the Hillside
  33. Deserted Gipsy's Song: Hillside Camp
  34. The Plains
  35. Lost Delight
  36. Unforgotten
  37. Song of Faiz Ulla
  38. Story of Lilavanti
  39. The Garden by the Bridge
  40. Fate Knows no Tears
  41. Verses: Faiz Ulla
  42. Two Songs by Sitara, of Kashmir
  43. Palm Trees by the Sea
  44. Song by Gulbaz
  45. Kashmiri Song
  46. Reverie of Ormuz the Persian
  47. Sunstroke
  48. Adoration
  49. Three Songs of Zahir-u-Din
  50. The Regret of the Ranee in the Hall of Peacocks
  51. Protest: By Zahir-u-Din
  52. Famine Song
  53. The Window Overlooking the Harbour
  54. Back to the Border
  55. Reverie: Zahir-u-Din
  56. Sea Song
  57. To the Hills!
  58. Till I Wake
  59. His Rubies: Told by Valgovind
  60. Song of Taj Mahomed
  61. The Garden of Kama
  62. Camp Follower's Song, Gomal River
  63. Song of the Colours: by Taj Mahomed
  64. Lalila, to the Ferengi Lover
  65. On the City Wall
  66. Love Lightly
  67. No Rival Like the Past
  68. Verse by Taj Mahomed
  69. Lines by Taj Mahomed
  70. There is no Breeze to Cool the Heat of Love
  71. Malay Song
  72. The Temple Dancing Girl
  73. Hira-Singh's Farewell to Burmah
  74. Starlight
  75. Sampan Song
  76. Song of the Devoted Slave
  77. The Singer
  78. Malaria
  79. Fancy
  80. Feroza
  81. This Month the Almonds Bloom at Kandahar
  82. Dedication to Malcolm Nicolson
  83. The Masters
  84. I Shall Forget
  85. The Lament of Yasmini, the Dancing-Girl
  86. Among the Rice Fields
  87. The Bride
  88. Unanswered
  89. The Net of Memory
  90. The Cactus Thicket
  91. Song of the Peri
  92. Though in my Firmament thou wilt not shine
  93. The Convert
  94. Ashore
  95. Yasin Khan
  96. Khristna and His Flute
  97. Song of Jasoda
  98. Song of Ramesram Temple Girl
  99. The Rao of Ilore
  100. To M. C. N.
  101. Disappointment
  102. On Pilgrimage
  103. The Rice-boat
  104. Lallji my Desire
  105. Rutland Gate
  106. Atavism
  107. Middle-age
  108. The Jungle Flower
  109. From Behind the Lattice
  110. Wings
  111. Song of the Parao (Camping-ground)
  112. The Tom-toms
  113. Written in Cananore
  114. Feroke
  115. My Desire
  116. Sher Afzul
  117. Nay, not To-night
  118. The Dying Prince
  119. The Hut
  120. My Paramour was Loneliness
  121. The Rice was under Water
  122. Surface Rights
  123. Shivratri (the Night of Shiva)
  124. The First Wife
  125. I Arise and go Down to the River
  126. Listen, Beloved
  127. Oh, Unforgotten and Only Lover
  128. Early Love
  129. Vayu the Wind

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