KASHMIRI SONG

by: Laurence Hope (1865-1904)

ALE hands I loved beside the Shalimar,
Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell?
Whom do you lead on rapture's roadway far,
Before you agonise them in farewell?

 

Oh, pale dispensers of my Joys and Pains,
Holding the doors of Heaven and Hell,
How the hot blood rushed wildly through the veins,
Beneath your touch, until you waved farewell.

 

Pale hands, pink tipped, like Lotus buds that float
On those cool waters where we used to dwell,
I would have rather felt you round my throat,
Crushing out life, than waving me farewell.

• Laurence Hope: Bibliography - A bibliography of the works of Laurence Hope, a.k.a. Adela Florence Nicolson Cory.
• Purchase books by Laurence Hope