Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A LOOK INTO THE GULF, by EDWIN MARKHAM Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I looked one night, and there semiramis Last Line: Her weary lips beat on without a sound. | ||||||||
I LOOKED one night, and there Semiramis, With all her mourning doves about her head, Sat rocking on an ancient road of Hell, Withered and eyeless, chanting to the moon Snatches of song they sang to her of old Upon the lighted roofs of Nineveh. And then her voice rang out with rattling laugh: "The bugles! they are crying back again -- Bugles that broke the nights of Babylon, And then went crying on through Nineveh. Stand back, ye trembling messengers of ill! Women, let go my hair: I am the Queen, A whirlwind and a blaze of swords to quell Insurgent cities. Let the iron tread Of armies shake the earth. Look, lofty towers: Assyria goes by upon the wind!" And so she babbles by the ancient road, While cities turned to dust upon the Earth Rise through her whirling brain to live again -- Babbles all night, and when her voice is dead Her weary lips beat on without a sound. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MENDOCINO MEMORY by EDWIN MARKHAM ANCHORED TO THE INFINITE by EDWIN MARKHAM BROTHERHOOD (2) by EDWIN MARKHAM CHILD OF MY HEART by EDWIN MARKHAM CONSECRATED GROUND; READ AT THE NEW YORK CITY HALL by EDWIN MARKHAM |
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