You are all that is lovely and light

You are all that is lovely and light,
  Aziza whom I adore,
And, waking, after the night,
  I am weary with dreams of you.
Every nerve in my heart is tense and sore
  As I rise to another morning apart from you.

I dream of your luminous eyes,
  Aziza whom I adore!
Of the ruffled silk of your hair,
I dream, and the dreams are lies.
But I love them, knowing no more
  Will ever be mine of you
Aziza, my life's despair.

I would burn for a thousand days,
Aziza whom I adore,
Be tortured, slain, in unheard of ways
  If you pitied the pain I bore.
You pity!  Your bright eyes, fastened on other things,
Are keener to sting my soul, than scorpion stings!

You are all that is lovely to me,
  All that is light,
One white rose in a Desert of weariness.
  I only live in the night,
The night, with its fair false dreams of you,
  You and your loveliness.

  Give me your love for a day,
A night, an hour:
  If the wages of sin are Death
I am willing to pay.
  What is my life but a breath
Of passion burning away?
  Away for an unplucked flower.
O Aziza whom I adore,
  Aziza my one delight,
Only one night, I will die before day,
  And trouble your life no more.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Garden of Kama by Laurence Hope, illustrated edition William Heinemann, October 1914, Page 53.

Authorship

• by Adela Florence Nicolson, née Cory (1865 - 1904), as Laurence Hope, "Prayer", appears in The Garden of Kama, no. 28, London : William Heinemann, first published 1901 [ author's text checked 1 time]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Amy Woodforde-Finden, née Ward (1860 - 1919), "You are all that is lovely", published 1911, lines 1-4,7-13 [voice and piano], from Stars of the Desert : Four more Indian Love Lyrics, no. 2, Boosey and Co. [ sung text checked 1 time]

Text added to the website: 2019-01-10.
Last modified: 2019-01-12 12:14:19
Line count: 36
Word count: 227

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