Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CLEOPATRA, by ALBERT SAMAIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CLEOPATRA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Heavy hung the night by the dark nile
Last Line: And under it the mighty desert moved.
Subject(s): Bodies; Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt (69-30 B.c.)


Heavy hung the night by the dark Nile.
Cleopatra, kneeling below the burning stars,
Struck pale, swept all aside her jemadars,
Tore off her robe with a strange, prurient smile

And passionately raised on the high plateau
Her virgin form, swollen with love like a ripe fruit.
Nude, she was vibrant there! Erect below
The stars, she writhed, ardent adder, the warm wind's loot.

She yearned, and her fierce eyes flamed the lightning free;
The world must breathe, tonight, her flesh alone. ...
O somber sex-flower that the dark winds proved!

And the Sphinx, immobile on the sands of ennui,
Felt a swift fire pervade its silent stone,
And under it the mighty desert moved.





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