THE MASQUE OF QUEEN BERSABE.
261
All that were fair and foul ye be,
Come hither; it am I.
Et hìc omnes cantabunt.
herodias.
This headband of my temples was
King Herod's gold band woven me,
This broken dry staff in my hand
Was the queen's staff of a great land
Betwixen Perse and Samarie.
For that one dancing of my feet,
The fire is come in my green wheat,
From one sea to the other sea.
aholibah.
My lips kissed dumb the word of Ah
Sighed on strange lips grown sick thereby.
God wrought to me my royal bed;
The inner work thereof was red,
The outer work was ivory.
My mouth's heat was the heat of flame
For lust towards the kings that came
With horsemen riding royally.
cleopatra.
