Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON THE CYDNUS, by JOSE-MARIA DE HEREDIA (1842-1905)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE CYDNUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Under the glorious sky, where the sun low rings
Last Line: The divine and infant twain, desire and death.
Subject(s): Babies; Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt (69-30 B.c.); Courts & Courtiers; Infants; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


Under the glorious sky, where the sun low rings,
The silver trireme illumines the sombre stream
And in its wake the perfumed censers teem,
With sound of flute and silken shiverings.

At the glittering prow where the sacred hawk wings,
Bent on her royal dais to watch dusk dream,
Cleopatra in the glowing twilight gleam
Is a great golden bird before it springs.

There is Tarsus, where the warrior is await,
Disarmed, and the queen spread on the charmèd air
Her amber arms, and the dark sets roses there;

Nor has she seen, foreshadowing her fate
Near by, lulling the waters with their roses' breath,
The divine and infant twain, desire and death.





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