Reincarnation

The clanging fire-bells shook the air, The maddened crowd roared like the sea And hurled its human waves 'gainst me -- Then through the smoke a face gleamed fair A moment brief -- and then the crash As chariot wheels together dash; Mad horses rear and plunge and scream -- It all comes back, an old, old dream, The brutal shout that shakes the walls As in the dust my chariot falls, The yellow cloud of strangling dust And I 'neath broken chariot thrust, The cruel faces from the tiers -- Then through it all a face appears, With pity sweet and white with fears, There in the box where Cæsar sneers!