Page:One of Cleopatra's nights by F.S. Faust.djvu/16

 Rippled o'er with light. Nubians they, from out The chosen tribes of Darfur. They had known The mighty silences, the livid sun, And those tall, welcome palm trees by the spring. And some in goblets bore the priceless wines Of old Messenia and Ocana's stream. Fair were the goblets, carved with chrysoprase, Others of jacinth or carnelian red. So that twain feasted there on curious dainties Brought from far Clissa and Nowanagar, And new-found lands, and the Messenian wine Laughed all aglow through the white jacinth, wreathed With opal stones.

And there she watched the great Heroie arch of Creon's breast, and he How her lips smiled less often than they seemed, Wondering ever at the littlest curve. Then dancing girls, with measured steps, moved through The hall, clothed in light fluttering veils that each Cost a year's labor far in Dehra Dun. Beyond the Indus, past the Ganges stream, Old women wrought them far in Dehra Dun. And round the dark hair of the dancing girls Lay ropes of pearls, and jeweled sandals flashed Upon their feet. Then one high flute blew out And the quick lyres made chorus with the sound In trembling rhythm, whereto the dancers moved In the dance of dawn. First all the motions slow As shadows that swing down an eastern range,