Caesarion
Partly to verify an era,
Partly also to pass the time,
Last night I picked up a collection
Of Ptolemaic epigrams to read.
The plentiful praises and flatteries
For everyone are similar. They are all brilliant,
Glorious, mighty, beneficent;
Each of their enterprises the wisest.
If you talk of the women of that breed, they too,
All the Berenices and Cleopatras are admirable.
When I had managed to verify the era
I would have put the book away, had not a small
And insignificant mention of king Caesarion
Immediately attracted my attention…..
Behold, you came with your vague
Charm. In history only a few
Lines are found about you,
And so I molded you more freely in my mind.
I molded you handsome and sentimental.
My art gives to your face
A dreamy compassionate beauty.
And so fully did I envision you,
That late last night, as my lamp
Was going out I let go out on purpose
I fancied that you entered my room,
It seemed that you stood before me; as you might have been
In vanquished Alexandria,
Pale and tired, idealistic in your sorrow,
Still hoping that they would pity you,
The wicked who whispered “Too many Caesars.”
Related poetry:
- The Wish Would but indulgent Fortune send To me a kind, and faithful Friend, One who to Virtue’s Laws is true, And does her nicest Rules pursue; One Pious, Lib’ral, Just and Brave, And to his Passions not a Slave; Who full of Honour, void of Pride, Will freely praise, and freely chide; But not indulge the […]...
- The Blue Swallows Across the millstream below the bridge Seven blue swallows divide the air In shapes invisible and evanescent, Kaleidoscopic beyond the mind’s Or memory’s power to keep them there. “History is where tensions were,” “Form is the diagram of forces.” Thus, helplessly, there on the bridge, While gazing down upon those birds – How strange, to […]...
- THE TEMPTATION THE Demon, in my chamber high, This morning came to visit me, And, thinking he would find some fault, He whispered: “I would know of thee Among the many lovely things That make the magic of her face, Among the beauties, black and rose, That make her body’s charm and grace, Which is most fair?” […]...
- He Came To Read He came to read. Two or three books Are open; historians and poets. But he only read for ten minutes, And gave them up. He is dozing On the sofa. He is fully devoted to books But he is twenty-three years old, and he’s very handsome; And this afternoon love passed Through his ideal flesh, […]...
- Yes And No Across a continent imaginary Because it cannot be discovered now Upon this fully apprehended planet- No more applicants considered, Alas, alas- Ran an animal unzoological, Without a fate, without a fact, Its private history intact Against the travesty Of an anatomy. Not visible not invisible, Removed by dayless night, Did it ever fly its ground […]...
- Sonnet 113: Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind, And that which governs me to go about Doth part his function, and is partly blind, Seems seeing, but effectually is out; For it no form delivers to the heart Of bird, of flower, or shape which it doth latch; Of his quick objects hath […]...
- Sonnet CXIII Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind; And that which governs me to go about Doth part his function and is partly blind, Seems seeing, but effectually is out; For it no form delivers to the heart Of bird of flower, or shape, which it doth latch: Of his quick objects hath […]...
- Memory One had a lovely face, And two or three had charm, But charm and face were in vain Because the mountain grass Cannot but keep the form Where the mountain hare has lain....
- One Size Fits All: A Critical Essay Though Already Perhaps However. On one level, Among other things, With And with. In a similar vein To be sure: Make no mistake. Nary a trace. However, Aside from With And with, Not And not, Rather Manifestly Indeed. Which is to say, In fictional terms, For reasons that are never made clear, Not without meaning, […]...
- As much a part In a slow drawn focus the concrete Blocks that prop up my view of the sky Morph soft and easy like double Brie melting into a shirred close-up shot Of the pores and the craters and the Tiny colourless hairs that populate This particular space, this winsome spot Near your chin on your handsome face. […]...
- None is spared your handsome smile The mystery of a smile that glows within your eyes And is framed in an innocent countenance Passes not unheeded. Those transient’s hallway smiles and greetings offered through your door Are slyly seeking kisses you unwittingly bestow Each time you purse your lips And say hello. There is a bounty of pleasure in your pretty […]...
- Drugs Made Pauline Vague Drugs made Pauline vague. She sat one day at the breakfast table Fingering in a baffled way The fronds of the maidenhair plant. Was it the salt you were looking for dear? Said Dulcie, exchanging a glance with the Brigadier. Chuff chuff Pauline what’s the matter? Said the Brigadier to his wife Who did not […]...
- Tie the Strings to my Life, My Lord Tie the Strings to my Life, My Lord, Then, I am ready to go! Just a look at the Horses Rapid! That will do! Put me in on the firmest side So I shall never fall For we must ride to the Judgment And it’s partly, down Hill But never I mind the steeper And […]...
- Dolphin My Dolphin, you only guide me by surprise, A captive as Racine, the man of craft, Drawn through his maze of iron composition By the incomparable wandering voice of Phиdre. When I was troubled in mind, you made for my body Caught in its hangman’s-knot of sinking lines, The glassy bowing and scraping of my […]...
- A Historical Breakfast A man is bringing a cup of coffee to his face, Tilting it to his mouth. It’s historical, he thinks. He scratches his head: another historical event. He really ought to rest, he’s making an awful lot of History this morning. Oh my, now he’s buttering toast, another piece of History is being made. He […]...
- Pictured My work, I’m very careful about it, and I love it. But today I’m discouraged by how slowly it’s going. The day has affected my mood. It gets darker and darker. Endless wind and rain. I’m more in the mood for looking than for writing. In this picture, I’m now gazing at a handsome boy […]...
- Father The long lines of diesels Groan toward evening Carrying off the breath Of the living. The face of your house Is black, It is your face, black And fire bombed In the first street wars, A black tooth planted in the earth Of Michigan And bearing nothing, And the earth is black, Sick on used […]...
- The Summer Sun Shone Round Me THE summer sun shone round me, The folded valley lay In a stream of sun and odour, That sultry summer day. The tall trees stood in the sunlight As still as still could be, But the deep grass sighed and rustled And bowed and beckoned me. The deep grass moved and whispered And bowed and […]...
- Finalities Amid fear and suspicions, With agitated mind and frightened eyes, We melt and plan how to act To avoid the certain Danger that so horribly threatens us. And yet we err, this was not in our paths; The messages were false (or we did not hear, or fully understand them). Another catastrophe, one we never […]...
- Mismet He was leaning by a face, He was looking into eyes, And he knew a trysting-place, And he heard seductive sighs; But the face, And the eyes, And the place, And the sighs, Were not, alas, the right ones the ones meet for him Though fine and sweet the features, and the feelings all abrim. […]...
- I saw Old General at Bay I SAW old General at bay; (Old as he was, his grey eyes yet shone out in battle like stars;) His small force was now completely hemm’d in, in his works; He call’d for volunteers to run the enemy’s lines-a desperate emergency; I saw a hundred and more step forth from the ranks-but two or […]...
- The Lads in Their Hundreds The lads in their hundreds to Ludlow come in for the fair, There’s men from the barn and the forge and the mill and the fold, The lads for the girls and the lads for the liquor are there, And there with the rest are the lads that will never be old. There’s chaps from […]...
- Mowing There was never a sound beside the wood but one, And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground. What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself; Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun, Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound And that was why it whispered and did […]...
- TO HIS MUSE Whither, mad maiden, wilt thou roam? Far safer ’twere to stay at home; Where thou mayst sit, and piping, please The poor and private cottages. Since cotes and hamlets best agree With this thy meaner minstrelsy. There with the reed thou mayst express The shepherd’s fleecy happiness; And with thy Eclogues intermix: Some smooth and […]...
- The same embrace We talked with family last night, not mine or yours Specifically but ours, the ones we love familiarly. When Little Jake (though not so little now) was heard to say, “Goodbye, I gotta go,” it was like our hearts were breaking; He’ll always be our baby too – as each of you are perfect Children […]...
- Night (This night, agitated by the growing storm) This night, agitated by the growing storm, How it has suddenly expanded its dimensions, That ordinarily would have gone unnoticed, Like a cloth folded, and hidden in the folds of time. Where the stars give resistance it does not stop there, Neither does it begin within the forest’s depths, Nor show upon the surface of […]...
- Boon Soul Behold! I’m old; my hair is white; My eighty years are in the offing, And sitting by the fire to-night I sip a grog to ease my coughing. It’s true I’m raucous as a rook, But feeling bibulously “bardy,” These lines I’m scribbling in a book: The verse complete of Thomas Hardy. Although to-day he’s […]...
- Walt Whitman's Caution TO The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States, Resist much, obey little; Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved; Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty....
- 199. Song-My Peggy's Charms MY Peggy’s face, my Peggy’s form, The frost of hermit Age might warm; My Peggy’s worth, my Peggy’s mind, Might charm the first of human kind. I love my Peggy’s angel air, Her face so truly heavenly fair, Her native grace, so void of art, But I adore my Peggy’s heart. The lily’s hue, the […]...
- Robert Southey Burke I spent my money trying to elect you Mayor A. D. Blood. I lavished my admiration upon you, You were to my mind the almost perfect man. You devoured my personality, And the idealism of my youth, And the strength of a high-souled fealty. And all my hopes for the world, And all my beliefs […]...
- What A Writer what i liked about e. e. cummings Was that he cut away from The holiness of the Word And with charm And gamble Gave us lines That sliced through the Dung. How it was needed! How we were withering Away In the old Tired Manner. Of course, then came all The e. e. cummings Copyists. […]...
- Friends Now must I these three praise Three women that have wrought What joy is in my days: One because no thought, Nor those unpassing cares, No, not in these fifteen Many-times-troubled years, Could ever come between Mind and delighted mind; And one because her hand Had strength that could unbind What none can understand, What […]...
- Jane and Eliza There were two little girls, neither handsome nor plain; One’s name was Eliza, the other’s was Jane: They were both of one height, as I’ve heard people say, They were both of one age, I believe, to a day. ‘Twas fancied by some, who but slightly had seen them, That scarcely a difference was there […]...
- To His Honoured and Most Ingenious Friend Mr. Charles Cotton For brave comportment, wit without offence, Words fully flowing, yet of influence: Thou art that man of men, the man alone, Worthy the public admiration: Who with thine own eyes read’st what we do write, And giv’st our numbers euphony, and weight. Tell’st when a verse springs high, how understood To be, or not born […]...
- Alma Mater He knocked, and I beheld him at the door A vision for the gods to verify. “What battered ancient is this,” thought I, “And when, if ever, did we meet before?” But ask him as I might, I got no more For answer than a moaning and a cry: Too late to parley, but in […]...
- The Little Bell HOW weak is man! how changeable his mind! His promises are naught, too oft we find; I vowed (I hope in tolerable verse,) Again no idle story to rehearse. And whence this promise? Not two days ago; I’m quite confounded; better I should know: A rhymer hear then, who himself can boast, Quite steady for […]...
- Poverty And Wealth The stork flew over a town one day, And back of each wing an infant lay; One to a rich man’s home he brought, And one he left at a labourer’s cot. The rich man said, ‘My son shall be A lordly ruler o’er land and sea.’ The labourer sighed, ”Tis the good God’s will […]...
- The Moon A web of sewer, pipe, and wire connects each house to the others. In 206 a dog sleeps by the stove where a small gas leak causes him To have visions; visions that are rooted in nothing but gas. Next door, a man who has decided to buy a car part by part Excitedly unpacks […]...
- Balmoral Castle Beautiful Balmoral Castle, Most handsome to be seen, Highland home of the Empress of India, Great Britain’s Queen. Your woods and waters and Mountains high are most Beautiful to see, Near by Balmoral Castle And the dark river Dee. Then there’s the hill of Cairngorm To be seen from afar, And the beautiful heathery hills […]...
- Peace Ah, that Time could touch a form That could show what Homer’s age Bred to be a hero’s wage. ‘Were not all her life but storm Would not painters paint a form Of such noble lines,’ I said, ‘Such a delicate high head, All that sternness amid charm, All that sweetness amid strength?’ Ah, but […]...