Egypt bed down beneath a sultry sky;
through the black delta, fatly, massively,
to Saïs or Bubastis, Nile rolled by.
A captured soldier, like a sleeping child
the Roman held that lovely form, and felt,
through his thick breastplate, the enchantress melt
on his triumphant heart, and, pliant, yield.
Turning her pale head that the brown hair framed,
she offered lips and bright eyes to the one
unconquerable fragrances enflamed:
hunched over her, the ardent prince discerned,
in those great eyes where golden star-points burned,
a whole wide sea, and warships on the run.
Jose-Maria de Heredia (1842 - 1905) Cuba (lived in Mexico)
Translated by Timothy Ades
Source: Poetry Atlas
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