ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS 211
1 Am Dyi^ig, Egypt, Dying
A NTHOXY.' I am dying, Egypt, dying :
XJL My spirit is going ; I can no more.
Cleopatra : Noblest of men, woo 5t die ?
Hast thou no care of me ? Shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a sty ? O, see, my women,
The crown os the earth doth melt. My lord !
O, withered is the garland of the war,
The soldier's star is fallen : young boys and girls
Are level now with men ; the odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon. Shakespeare
I AM dying, Egypt, dying,
Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast,
And the dark Plutonian shadows
Gather on the evening blast ;
Let thine arms, O Queen, enfold me,
Hush thy sobs and bow thine ear ;
Listen to the great heart-secrets,
Thou, and thou alone, must hear.
Though my scarred and veteran legions
Bear their eagles high no more,
And my wrecked and scattered galleys
Strew dark Aetium's fatal shore9
Though no glittering guards surround me,
Prompt to do their master's will,
I must perish like a Roman,
Die the great Triumvir still.
Let not Caesar's servile minions
Mock the lion thus laid low ;
Twas no foeman's arm that felled him,
Twas his own that struck the blow ;
His who, pillowed on thy bosom.,
Turned aside from glory's ray..
His who, drunk with thy caresses,
Madly threw a world away.
I am dying, Egypt, dying ;
Hark 1 the insulting foeinan's cry.
They are coming ! quick, my falchion,
Let me front them ere I die.
Ah ! no more amid the battle
Shall my heart exulting swell;
Isis and Osiris guard thee !
Cleopatra, Rome, farewell!
William Haines LyUe