This poem (“Request”) comes from the book The Garden of Kama, a collection of translations of Indian poetry published in 1901 by Laurence Hope.
GIVE me yourself 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!
But it turns out that Laurence Hope was actually Adela Florence Nicholson (née Cory), 1865-1904. She married an officer in the (British) Indian Army, from whom she conceived a love of Indian culture. But not only was Hope a pseudonym, but the supposed translations were actually her own compositions. the poems were well thought of in the Edwardian period. She was apparently prone to depression, and committed suicide after her husband failed to survive an operation.
How sad!
(The image above is actually Cupid and Psyche by Jacques Louis David.)
Posted April 25, 2009 by Keyser Söze under Art, Love, Poetry