(A Mughal Garden on the Dal Lake)
Shalimar! Shalimar!
A rythmic sound in thy name rings
A dreamy cadence from afarWithin those syllables which sings
To us of love and joyous days
Of Lalla Rukh! of pleasure feast!
Of fountains clear whose glitt’ring sprays
Drawn from the snows have never ceasedTo cast their spell on all who gaze
Upon this handiwork of love
Eeared in Jehangir’s proudest daysHomage for Nur Mahal to prove.
For his fair Queen he built these courts
With porphyry pillars smooth and blackWhose grandeur still expresses thoughts
For her that should no beauty lack.The roses show ‘ring o’er these walls
Still fondly whisper love lurks hereAnd still he beckoning to us calls
By yon Dai’s shores in fair Kashmir.
~ Muriel A.E. Brown
Chenar Leaves: Poems of Kashmir (1921)
Mrs. Percy Brown
Published by Longmans,Green and Co (London) in 1921.
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Photograph taken by me in June 2008
Muriel Agnes Eleanora Talbot Brown dedicated the collection of verses to the memory of her father, the late Lt.-Col. Sir Adelbert Cecil Talbot ( b. 3 June 1845, d. 28 December 1920) who was the Resident of Kashmir from 1896 to 1900. Earlier he had also been the Chief political resident of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf (for Bahrain, Bushire, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the Trucial States) from 1891 to 1893.
Muriel Agnes Eleanora Talbot was married to Percy Brown, art historian famous for his work on History of Indian architecture ( Buddhist and Hindu, 1942 ). Percy Brown was at one time the Principal of Mayo School of Art, Lahore and curator of the Lahore Museum.He also served the post of principal of Government School of Art and Craft, Calcutta and Curator of the Government Art Gallery Calcutta. In his later years, he settled in Kashmir and was instrumental in guiding some local Kashmiri painters, musician and other artists. He died on 22 March 1955 in Srinagar, Kashmir, India.
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Read this for history of Mughal Gardens of Kashmir
Get the complete set of poems from Chenar Leaves: Poems of Kashmir at Archive.org
