The Mistress of Alexandria

Would I that we were bound forever in each other’s embrace,
That neither Death nor Hades had any hold over your heart.
This world would be our oyster, pearls would scuttle from its place,
Our stars would shine brilliantly, their lamplight would never depart.

Would I that our souls were intwined upon a path of pleasantness,
Its stony steps also enjoined by the foliage of paradise,
Your eyes and mine to dance about seeking acts of benevolence,
We both would have no more need for the casting of the dice.

A thrill! O’ what exulted bliss, would be our realm of ecstasy!
A conqueror’s appointed end, his queen’s wholesome term of peace.
The gods themselves would have inclined to one governate supremacy,
The planets would have aligned to cater forth to us their celestial lease.

But now, the moon does cast her glow upon you only in remembrance,
The perfume of your ointment has no longer its enthralling scent,
As my mind is made better by the gift of godly temperance,
I’m made to see your comely portrait rested well without torment.

Upon a bed of silken threads, within the abode of your slumber
As though awaiting the awakening touch of one, whomever should imbue
Toward your fertile maidenhead, a desired kiss to disencumber
Bonds of darkness, bands of imprisonment in its view.

Alas! My darling Cleopatra, you could never have desired death,
Lest by an asp’s eyes you would have divined the vantage of your enemy
Yet to have known the love of noble Caesar and in your last breath
Given up the ghost, you have therein conveyed your choice of legacy.

I now recount as one whose minstrel story will be read by some,
That you did see the kingdom stripped away from you and your own,
Farewell my love, I bid you goodwill as one knowing that all has been done,
I durst not venture forth to meet you at your bedchamber alone.