Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CLEOPATRA DYING, by THOMAS STEPHENS COLLIER First Line: Sinks the sun below the desert Last Line: Egypt, antony, farewell. Alternate Author Name(s): Collyer, Thomas Stephens | ||||||||
SINKS the sun below the desert, Golden glows the sluggish Nile; Purple flame crowns Spring and Temple, Lights up every ancient pile Where the old gods now are sleeping; Isis and Osiris great, Guard me, help me, give me courage Like a Queen to meet my fate. "I am dying, Egypt, dying," Let the Caesar's army come -- I will cheat him of his glory, Though beyond the Styx I roam; Shall he drag this beauty with him -- While the crowd his triumph sings? No, no, never! I will show him What lies in the blood of Kings. Though he hold the golden scepter, Rule the Pharaoh's sunny land, Where old Nilus rolls resistless Through the sweeps of silvery sand -- He shall never say I met him Fawning, abject, like a slave -- I will foil him, though to do it I must cross the Stygian wave. Oh, my hero, sleeping, sleeping -- Shall I meet you on the shore Of Plutonian shadows? Shall we In death meet and love once more? See, I follow in your footsteps -- Scorn the Caesar in his might; For your love I will leap boldly Into realms of death and night. Down below the desert sinking, Fades Apollo's brilliant car; And from out the distant azure Breaks the bright gleam of a star. Venus, Queen of Love and Beauty, Welcomes me to death's embrace, Dying, free, proud, and triumphant, The last sovereign of my race. Dying, dying! I am coming, Oh, my hero, to your arms; You will welcome me, I know it -- Guard me from all rude alarms. Hark! I hear the legions coming, Hear the cries of triumph swell, But, proud Caesar, dead I scorn you -- Egypt, Antony, farewell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DISAPPOINTMENT; QUATRAIN by THOMAS STEPHENS COLLIER INFALLIBILITY; QUATRAIN by THOMAS STEPHENS COLLIER LIFE'S TRIUMPH by THOMAS STEPHENS COLLIER NELLY TELLS HOW BABY CAME by THOMAS STEPHENS COLLIER POWER; QUATRAIN by THOMAS STEPHENS COLLIER TIME; QUATRAIN by THOMAS STEPHENS COLLIER CONTRA MORTEM: THE BEING AS MOMENT by HAYDEN CARRUTH MAY AND DEATH by ROBERT BROWNING MARY'S LAMB by SARAH JOSEPHA BUELL HALE THE CAGED SKYLARK by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE VALLEY OF UNREST (2) by EDGAR ALLAN POE STANZAS WRITTEN IN DEJECTION, NEAR NAPLES by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |
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