Kashmiri Song
by Laurence Hope

Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar,
Where are you now? [Who lies beneath your spell?]1
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 of 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!