Sampan Song

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!"

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson

Adela Florence Nicolson, better known by her pen name Laurence Hope, was an English poet who gained popularity in the early 20th century for her verse inspired by Indian themes and settings. She was born on April 9, 1865, in Stoke Bishop, England. Nicolson's work is often associated with themes of love, longing, and the exoticism of the East. She tragically ended her own life on October 4, 1904. Despite her short life, her poetry left a lasting impact and continues to be read and appreciated.

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson

The First Wife

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson, Simple Poetry

Second Song (Three Songs of Zahir-u-Din)

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson, Simple Poetry

Palm Trees by the Sea

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson, Simple Poetry

The Garden of Kama: Kama the Indian Eros

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Sea Song

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,
    Your hair was curled as the waves are curled,
I would we had steamed and reached that night
    The sea's last edge, the end of the world.

The wind blew in through the open port,
    So freshly joyous and salt and free,
Your hair it lifted, your lips it sought,
    And then swept back to the open sea.

The engines throbbed with their constant beat;
    Your heart was nearer, and all I heard;
Your lips were salt, but I found them sweet,
    While, acquiescent, you spoke no word.

So straight you lay in your narrow bert...

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson

Malay Song

The Stars await, serene and white,
    The unarisen moon;
Oh, come and stay with me to-night,
    Beside the salt Lagoon!

My hut is small, but as you lie,
    You see the lighted shore,
And hear the rippling water sigh
    Beneath the pile-raised floor.

No gift have I of jewels or flowers,
    My room is poor and bare:
But all the silver sea is ours,
    And all the scented air

Blown from the mainland, where there grows
    Th' "Intriguer of the Night,"
The flower that you have named Tube rose,
    Sweet scented, slim, and white.

The flower that, when the air is still
    And no land breezes blow,
From its pale petals can distil
    A phosphorescent glow.

I see your ship at anchor ride;
    Her "captive li...

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson

Valgovind's Boat Song

Waters glisten and sunbeams quiver,
    The wind blows fresh and free.
Take my boat to your breast, O River!
    Carry me out to Sea!

This land is laden with fruit and grain,
    With never a place left free for flowers,
A fruitful mother; but I am fain
    For brides in their early bridal hours.

Take my boat to your breast, O River!
    Carry me out to Sea!

The Sea, beloved by a thousand ships,
    Is maiden ever, and fresh and free.
Ah, for the touch of her cool green lips,
    Carry me out to Sea!

Take my boat to your breast, dear River,
    And carry it out to Sea!

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson

The Song of Tigilau

The song of Tigilau the brave,
Sinas wild lover,
Who across the heaving wave
From Samoa came over:
Came over, Sina, at the setting moon!

The moon shines round and bright;
She, with her dark-eyed maidens at her side,
Watches the rising tide.
While balmy breathes the starry southern night,
While languid heaves the lazy southern tide;
The rising tide, O Sina, and the setting moon!

The night is past, is past and gone,
The moon sinks to the West,
The sea-heart beats opprest,
And Sinas passionate breast
Heaves like the sea, when the pale moon has gone,
Heaves like the passionate sea, Sina, left by the moon alone!

Silver on silver sands, the rippling waters meet
Will he come soon?
The rippling waters kiss her delicate feet,
The...

Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke

Sam

When Sam goes back in memory,
    It is to where the sea
Breaks on the shingle, emerald-green,
    In white foam, endlessly;
He says - with small brown eye on mine -
    "I used to keep awake,
And lean from my window in the moon,
    Watching those billows break.
And half a million tiny hands,
    And eyes, like sparks of frost,
Would dance and come tumbling into the moon,
    On every breaker tossed.
And all across from star to star,
    I've seen the watery sea,
With not a single ship in sight,
    Just ocean there, and me;
And heard my father snore. And once,
    As sure as I'm alive,
Out of those wallowing, moon-flecked waves
    I saw a mermaid dive;
Head and shoulders above the wave,
    Plain as I now see you,
Combing her h...

Walter De La Mare

Sea-Song.

A dash of spray,
A weed-browned way, -
My ship's in the bay,
In the glad blue bay, -
The wind's from the west
And the waves have a crest,
But my bird's in the nest
And my ship's in the bay!

At dawn to stand
Soft hand to hand,
Bare feet on the sand, -
On the hard brown sand, -
To wait, dew-crowned,
For the tarrying sound
Of a keel that will ground
On the scraping sand.

A glad surprise
In the wind-swept skies
Of my wee one's eyes, -
Those wondering eyes.
He will come, my sweet,
And will haste to meet
Those hurrying feet
And those sea-blue eyes.

I know the day
Must weary away,
And my ship's in the bay, -
In the clear, blue bay, -
Ah! there's wind in the west,
For the waves have a c...

Sophie M. (Almon) Hensley