Page:One of Cleopatra's nights by F.S. Faust.djvu/8

 ONE OF CLEOPATRA'S NIGHTS

F. S. FAUST

Beneath the miser shelter of the bush Sat Creon all that day and heard the purr Of Nile's dun water, till he half forgot The hunters beating hard upon his track, And musing drowsy there, drew from the quiver That single arrow whose companions served To strike down guardians of his last estate Of slavery and loose him on the path Of freedom; whither it led he could not know, But felt here was a pleasant milestone by The way. And dreaming there he took his knife, Yet reddened at the hilt, and notched along The staunch white shaft a curious lettering: "I love you"—for it came into his mind That this last shaft would answer life or death To the importunate questionings of fate. Now he looked up and saw the sun half veiled In the earth's lovely shadows; hearing next A little growing murmur, turned and saw A great barge rowed by forty cedarn oars Trail its imperial draperies up the tide. And the prow pushed a little golden wave Ever before it, and the wave lapsed ever down Rh