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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEDICATION IN THESE DAY by HAYDEN CARRUTH ETUDES DE PLUSIERS PAYSAGES DE L' AME: 1 by HAYDEN CARRUTH MARIA CALLAS, THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LEGEND* by MADELINE DEFREES DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 3. TEESTAY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CORPORATE ENTITY by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH |