| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917. |
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| 82. The Dust Dethroned |
| | | By George Sterling |
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| SARGON is dust, Semiramis a clod! | |
| In crypts profaned the moon at midnight peers | |
| The owl upon the Sphinx hoots in her ears, | |
| And scant and sear the desert grasses nod | |
| Where once the armies of Assyria trod, | 5 |
| With younger sunlight splendid on the spears; | |
| The lichens cling the closer with the years, | |
| And seal the eyelids of the weary god. | |
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| Where high the tombs of royal Egypt heave, | |
| The vulture shadows with arrested wings | 10 |
| The indecipherable boast of kings, | |
| As Arab children hear their mother’s cry | |
| And leave in mockery their toy—they leave | |
| The skull of Pharaoh staring at the sky. | |
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