Kashmiri song

The third tale from 'The mystery of the east' in Told round the fire is 'Kashiri song'. This is Lorna's illustration for her story.

The poem by Laurence Hope (Adela Florence Nicolson) on which Lorna's story is based includes the verse below. Lorna added this text to the tracing paper that protects her watercolour.:

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!
Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar
Where are you now? Where lies your spell?

If you would like to hear the music that Amy Woodforde-Finden composed to go with these lyrics, there are several versions of Kashmiri song on YouTube, including one by Peter Dawson. (By the way, Wikipedia tells us that like Nicolson, Woodforde-Finden also had a Colonial lifestyle and died young.)

We are rather surprised that an interest in Lorna's war diary has led us to find out about female British poets and composers of the early twentieth century that were previously unknown to us - but that's Blipfoto for you!