| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | Song by Gulbaz | | By Laurence Hope (Adela Florence Nicolson) (1865–1904) |
| | (From India’s Love Lyrics, 1902)
“IS it safe to lie so lonely when the summer twilight closes | |
| No companion maidens, only you asleep among the roses? | |
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| “Thirteen, fourteen years you number, and your hair is soft and scented, | |
| Perilous is such a slumber in the twilight all untented. | |
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| “Lonely loveliness means danger, lying in your rose-leaf nest, | 5 |
| What if some young passing stranger broke into your careless rest?” | |
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| But she would not heed the warning, lay alone serene and slight, | |
| Till the rosy spears of morning slew the darkness of the night. | |
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| Young love, walking softly, found her, in the scented, shady closes, | |
| Threw his ardent arms around her, kissed her lips beneath the roses. | 10 |
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| And she said, with smiles and blushes, “Would that I had sooner known! | |
| Never now the morning thrushes wake and find me all alone. | |
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| “Since you said the rose-leaf cover sweet protection gave, but slight, | |
| I have found this dear young lover to protect me through the night!” | | | | |
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