GOLDEN EYES translated into English by: Laurence Hope (1865-1904) H Amber Eyes, oh Golden Eyes! Oh Eyes so softly gay! Wherein swift fancies fall and rise, Grow dark and fade away. Eyes like a little limpid pool That holds a sunset sky, While on its surface, calm and cool, Blue water lilies lie.

Oh Tender Eyes, oh Wistful Eyes, You smiled on me one day, And all my life, in glad surprise, Leapt up and pleaded "Stay!" Alas, oh cruel, starlike eyes, So grave and yet so gay, You went to lighten other skies, Smiled once and passed away.

Oh, you whom I name "Golden Eyes," Perhaps I used to know Your beauty under other skies In lives lived long ago. Perhaps I rowed with galley slaves, Whose labour never ceased, To bring across Phoenician waves Your treasure from the East.

Maybe you were an Emperor then And I a favourite slave; Some youth, whom from the lions' den You vainly tried to save! Maybe I reigned, a mighty King, The early nations knew, And you were some slight captive thing, Some maiden whom I slew.

Perhaps, adrift on desert shores Beside some shipwrecked prow, I gladly gave my life for yours. Would I might give it now! Or on some sacrificial stone Strange Gods were satisfied, Perhaps you stooped and left a throne To kiss me ere I died.

Perhaps, still further back than this, In times ere men where men, You granted me a moment's bliss In some dark desert den, When, with your amber eyes alight With iridescent flame, And fierce desire for love's delight, Towards my lair you come.

Ah laughing, ever-brilliant eyes, These things men may not know, But something in your radiance lies, That, centuries ago, Lit up my life in one wild blaze Of infinite desire To revel in your golden rays, Or in your light expire.

If this, oh Strange Ringed Eyes, be true, That through all changing lives This longing love I have for you Eternally survives, May I not sometimes dare to dream In some far time to be Your softly golden eyes may gleam Responsively on me?

Ah gentle, subtly changing eyes, You smiled on me one day, And all my life in glad surprise Leaped up, imploring "Stay!" Alas, alas, oh Golden Eyes, So cruel and so gay, You went to shine in other skies, Smiled once and passed away. "Golden Eyes" is reprinted from India's Love Lyrics . Trans. Laurence Hope. New York: John Lane Co., 1906. MORE POEMS BY LAURENCE HOPE RELATED LINKS Laurence Hope: Bibliography - A bibliography of the works of Laurence Hope, a.k.a. Adela Florence Nicolson Cory.

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