Part 45 (2/2)
”Ha! You!” Zim cried, ”have often cleared my heated head Of heavy thoughts which your great lord have come to seek And torture with their pain and weight like molten lead.
Let us two--power, I--you, wine--together speak.”
THE CUP.
”Phur,” spoke the Cup, ”O king, dwelt as Day's G.o.d, Ruled Alexandria with sword and rod.
He from his people drew force after force, Leaving in ev'ry clime an army's corse.
But what gained he by having, like the sea, Flooded with human waves to enslave the free?
Where lies the good in having been the chief In conquering, to cause a nation's grief?
Darius, a.s.sar-addon, Hamilcar; Who have led men in legions out to war, Or have o'er Time's shade cast rays from their seat, Or throngs in wors.h.i.+p made their name repeat, These were, but all the cup of life have drank; Rising 'midst clamor, they in stillness sank.
Death's dart beat down the sword--the kings high reared, Were brought full low--judges, like culprits, feared.
The body--when the soul had ceased its sway-- Was placed where earth upon it heavy lay, While seek the mouldering bones rare oils anoint Claw of tree's root and tooth of rocky point.
Weeds thrive on them who made the world a mart Of human flesh, plants force their joints apart.
No deed of eminence the greatest saves, And of mausoleums make panthers caves.”
The Cup, Zim, in his fury, dashed upon the floor, Crying aloud for lights. Slaves, at his angry call, In to him hastily, a candelabra bore, And set it, branching o'er the table, in the hall, From whose wide bounds it hunted instantly the gloom.
”Ah, light!” exclaimed the Soudan, ”welcome light, all hail!
Dull witnesses were yonder Sphinxes of this room; The Cup was always drunk, in wit did ever fail; But you fling gleams forth brightly, dazzling as a torch; Vainly to quell your power all Night's attempts are spent; The murky, black-eyed clouds you eat away and scorch, Making where'er you spring to life an Orient.
To charm your lord give voice, thou spark of paradise!
Speak forth against the Sphinxes' enigmatic word, And 'gainst the Wine-Cup, with its sharp and biting spice!”
THE LAMP.
Oh, Crusher of Countless Cities, such as earth knew Scarce once before him, Ninus (who his brother slew), Was borne within the walls which, in a.s.syrian rite, Were built to hide dead majesty from outer sight.
If eye of man the gift uncommon could a.s.sume, And pierce the ma.s.s, thick, black as hea.r.s.e's plume, To where lays on a horrifying bed What was King Ninus, now hedged round with dread, 'Twould see by what is shadow of the light, A line of feath'ry dust, bones marble-white.
A shudder overtakes the pois'nous snakes When they glide near that powder, laid in flakes.
Death comes at times to him--_Life_ comes no more!
And sets a jug and loaf upon the floor.
He then with bony foot the corpse o'erturns, And says: ”It is I, Ninus! 'Tis Death who spurns!
I bring thee, hungry king, some bread and meat.”
”I have no hands,” Ninus replies. ”Yet, eat!”
Zim pierced to the very quick by these repeated stabs, Sprang to his feet, while from him pealed a fearful shout, And, furious, flung down upon the marble slabs The richly carved and golden Lamp, whose light went out-- Then glided in a form strange-shaped, In likeness of a woman, moulded in dense smoke, Veiled in thick, ebon fog, in utter darkness draped, A glimpse of which, in short, one's inmost fears awoke.
Zim was alone with her, this G.o.ddess of the Night.
The ma.s.sy walls of stone like vapor part and fade, Zim, shuddering, tried to call guard or satellite, But as the figure grasped him firmly, ”Come!” she said.
BP. ALEXANDER
A QUEEN FIVE SUMMERS OLD.
_(”Elle est toute pet.i.te.”)_
[Bk. XXVI.]
She is so little--in her hands a rose: A stern duenna watches where she goes, What sees Old Spain's Infanta--the clear s.h.i.+ne Of waters shadowed by the birch and pine.
What lies before? A swan with silver wing, The wave that murmurs to the branch's swing, Or the deep garden flowering below?
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