CLEOPA TRA. 47

CLEOPATRA.

DECLINING in her chamber sat

1\ Egypt s great queen,

Below, on skin-of-tiger mat,

There might be seen

A fair slave, prone, to stool her feet.

Her carven couch was rich with gold,

And flashing gems

Were bound upon her forehead bold

And on the hems

Of all her royal robes replete.

The walls were wonderful about

With pictured things :

Isis, Osiris, battle rout

And pride of Kings

Ptolomy, Menes, Pharoah.

Out thro the open window, far,

Her fierce eyes swept

The fertile land, thoughtful of war ;

While shimmering slept

The corn beneath the noon-tide glow.

The hand that pressed her satin flank

Was clenching tight,

And thro pale lips that twitched and shrank,

A gleam of white

Showed tigress teeth set hard at Fate.