The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1874-03-08
CLEOPATRA.

years ago In BlaclSwood. Aside from N,
magnihcence of its dlction. the idea OF the
poem is so bold and original that very few
viii feel themselves familiar with II even
on second reading.
Here, CHAIRMAN, take my bracelets
They bar with n purple stain
MY arms then over my pillows
They are hot where have lain;
Open the lattice wider,
a gauzG on my bosom throw,
Aud let ms inhale the odors
That over the garden blow,
l dreamed that was with my Antony,
And in his arms lay;
ALI, mel the vision h ~ vanished
Its music has died away;
The flame and the perfume have persisted
AS this spiced aromatic pastillc
That wound the blue smoke of It's odor
NOW but an ashy hill.
Scatter upon me rose leaves
They cool me aftermy sleep
And with sandal odors fan me,
TIL into my veins they creep
Reach down the Lutte, and play me
a melancholy tune,
To rpyme with the dream that has van
iShcd.
And the slumberng afternoon,
Letters The slow, smooth Nile,
Through slender papyrl, that cover
The sleeping crocodile.
The lotus rolls on the water,
And opens its heart Of gold,
And over its broad-lcaf pavement
Never ripple isrolled.
The twilight breeze Is too Ivy
Those leuthery palms 10 wave,
And yon little cloud Is as motionlcss
AS stone above grave.
All me, this liicless nature
OpprvSs9s my heart and brain
Oh! for u storm AMI thunder
For lightning and wild, fierce rain!
Fling down that lute--I hate II.
Take rather his buckler and sword,
And crash and clash them together
TIL this sleeping world Is stirred.
Hank! TO my Indian beauty
My cockatoO, creamy white,
With roses under his feathers
That flash across the light.
Look listen! as backward and forward
To his hoop of gold he cllngs,
How he trembles, with crest uplitted,
And shriekS rs he madly swings!
Oh, cockatoo, shrek for Antony!
Cry "Comc, my love, come homer
Shrek, "Antony! Antony! Antonyn
TIL he hears you even in Rome
There-leave me, and take from my cham
Der
That wretchcd little gazele
With its bright blacks eyes SO meaningless,
And Its silly tinkling bell.
Take him-ny nerves he veXes-
The thing without blood or brain
Or, by the body of Isis,
IN snap his thin neck in twain!
Leave me to gaze at the landscape
Mistily stretching away,
When the afternoons OpaliEe trcmors
ma mi N a u ~ Nnpinu
TIL the tiercer Splendor of sunset
P0urS fiom the west its fire,
And melted, rs in q cruciDle,
Their earthly forms expire;
And the bald, Dlear skull of the desert
With glowing mountains Is crowned,
That burning like molten jewels
Circle its temples round.
will lie and dream Of the past time,
lEons of thought away,
And through the jungle of memory
Loosen my fancy to play;
When, a smooth and velyety tiger,
Ribbed with yellow and black,
Supplied and cushion footed,
| wandered, where never the track
Ola human creature had ruStled
The silence of the mighty woods,
And fierce in tyrannouS freedom,
knew but the law of my moods.
The elephant, trumpeting started
When he heard my footsteps near,
And the spotted CRATES fled wildly
In q yellow cloud of fear.
Isucked in the noontide splendor,
Quivering along the glade,
ORGANIZING, painting and dreaming,
BasiSed In the Tamarisk shade
TIL heard my wild mate roaring,
As the shadows of night came on.
To brood in the trees thick branches,
And the shadows of sleep was gone;
Then reused, and roared In answer,
And unsheathed from my cushioned feet
My curving claws, and stretched me,
And wandered my mate to greet.
We toyed in the amber moonlight,
Upon the warm fiat sand.
And struck ut each other our massive
How powerful he was and grand!
His yellow eyes flashed flercely
AS he crouched and gazed at me,
And his luivering tail, like II serpent,
pWitched, curving nervouSy,
Then like storm he seized me,
With u wild triumphant cry,
And we met, as two clouds in heaven
When the thunders before them fly.
We srapped and struggled together,
For his love like his rage was rude;
And his teeth in the swelling folds of my
neck
At times, in our play, drew blood.
Often another suitor--
For was flexible and fair
Fought fo' me in the moonlight,
While lay crouching there,
Till his blood was drained by the DESERT
And ruftied with triumph and power,
He licked me and lay beside me
To breathe him vast half hour.
Then down to the fountains we lotered,
Where the antelopes came 10 drink;
Like bolt we sprang upon them,
Ere they find time TO shrink.
We drank their blood and crushed them,
And tore them liab from limb
And the hungrieSt lion doubted
Ere he disputed with Him.
That was lie to live for!
Not this weak human life,
With its frivolous, bloodless passions,
Its poor and petty strife!
Come to my arms. my hero,
The shadows of twilight grow,
And the tigers ancient tlerceness
In my veins begins to How.
Come not cringing to sue mel
Take me with triumph aud power
As warrior that storms n fortress!
| will not shrink or cover.
Come, y. you came i'll the desert,
Ere we were women and men,
When the tiger passions were i'll us,
And love as you loved me then.