Since Cleopatra Died

“SINCE Cleopatra died!” Long years are past, In Antony’s fancy, since the deed was done. Love counts its epochs, not from sun to sun, But by the heart-throb. Mercilessly fast Time has swept onward since she looked her last On life, a queen. For him the sands have run Whole ages through their glass, and kings have won And lost their empires o’er earth’s surface vast Since Cleopatra died. Ah! Love and Pain Make their own measure of all things that be. No clock’s slow ticking marks their deathless strain; The life they own is not the life we see; Love’s single moment is eternity: Eternity, a thought in Shakespeare’s brain.