| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917. |
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| 2. Dead Cleopatra |
| | | By Conrad Aiken |
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| DEAD CLEOPATRA lies in a crystal casket, | |
| Wrapped and spiced by the cunningest of hands. | |
| Around her neck they have put a golden necklace | |
| Her tatbebs, it is said, are worn with sands. | |
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| Dead Cleopatra was once revered in Egypt— | 5 |
| Warm-eyed she was, this princess of the south. | |
| Now she is very old and dry and faded, | |
| With black bitumen they have sealed up her mouth. | |
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| Grave-robbers pulled the gold rings from her fingers, | |
| Despite the holy symbols across her breast; | 10 |
| They scared the bats that quietly whirled above her. | |
| Poor lady! she would have been long since at rest | |
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| If she had not been wrapped and spiced so shrewdly, | |
| Preserved, obscene, to mock black flights of years. | |
| What would her lover have said, had he foreseen it? | 15 |
| Had he been moved to ecstasy, or tears? | |
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| O sweet clean earth from whom the green blade cometh!— | |
| When we are dead, my best-beloved and I, | |
| Close well above us that we may rest forever, | |
| Sending up grass and blossoms to the sky. | 20 |
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