Page:Dreams and Dust, by Don Marquis.djvu/29



By Tigris, or the streams of Ind,
 * Ere Colchis rose, or Babylon,

Forgotten empires dreamed and sinned,
 * Setting tall towns against the dawn,

Which, when the proud Sun smote upon, "Flashed fire for fire and pride for pride; Their names were . . . Ask oblivion! . ..
 * "They had no poet, and they died."

Queens, dusk of hair and tawny-skinned,
 * That loll where fellow leopards fawn . ..

Their hearts are dust before the wind,
 * Their loves, that shook the world, are wan!

Passion is mighty. . . but, anon,
 * Strong Death has Romance for his bride;