Listen and hear Rome roaring from afar!
Oh, hearken to the tumult of the hordes
Of Caesar, drunk with the red wine of war!
Blow trumpets! Clang, O brazen shields and swords,
Your thunder to the steady march of men!
And sing, O purple pennons that unfold
Beneath the bronze-tipped menace of the spears!
The gods! The gods are gleaming on the gold,
Wide-winged, great eagles of the Tiber, when
The standard of the Emperor appears!
X
Come, Cleopatra, from thy prison break,
And I will gather now my waiting band--
My cohorts; yea, I will rise up and shake
Over Octavius a mighty hand;
Yea, I-- What sayest thou? The Queen is dead?
O Joy of gods and men! thou couldst not die--
Never to Cleopatra could come death!
There, lad! hold thou my sword, and let me fly
On wings of love to realms unvisited
Where Cleopatra, waiting, wandereth!