Eugene Mason
Antony and Cleopatra
1
The Cyndus Beneath th’ triumphal blue, th’ riotous day,
Her silvern galley beats the black flood white,
Whilst the long sillage hoards some close delight
Of incense, flutes, and stir of silk array.
From forth the pompous poop, her royal sway,
Near where the mystic hawk stands poised for flight,
The Queen, erect, stares out, flushed, exquisite,
Like some great golden bird that spies her prey.
The tryst is kept: her spoilèd warrior there:
And the brown gipsy in the swooning air
Spreads amber arms the purple glow stains red;
Nor hath she seen, nor known with shuddering breath.
Symbols of Doom, those Youths Divine who shed
Rose-leaves on sombre deeps — Desire and Death.
2
Battle at Sunset The shock was stern: the cohorts near to rout.
Staying the flight, tribune, centurion,
From heat of carnage ’neath th’ enduring sun
Breathe blood, and smell its savour as they shout.
With haggard eyes, that count the dead about,
Each spearman marks the archers, all undone,
Whirl like heaped leaves before Euroclydon.
From the brown faces sweat falls gout by gout.
That fated hour — with many a shaft stuck o’er,
Streaming in burnished brass and purple weed,
Red with the scarlet flux of wounds full sore,
With trumpets shrilling forth their urgent need,
Against the sunset, on his frighted steed —
Surged, glorious, the ensanguined Emperor.
3
Antony and Cleopatra From the high terrace they might see far down,
Egypt asleep, by plague of heat opprest;
Old Father Nile, in beauty manifest,
Roll his rich flood towards many a famous town.
And lo, the Roman felt ’neath mail and gown
(Captain and slave, soothing a child to rest)
Relax and fail on his triumphant breast
That body made for love, by love o’erthrown.
Lifting her silken head and blanched face
To him whose senses reel at such rare grace
And piercing sweetness, she prefers her lips;
But stooping close, his ardent eyes behold
In those deep eyes, sewn thick with points of gold,
A hazardous sea bestrewn with fleeing ships.
From the French of José Maria de Heredia
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