Anthony and Cleopatra

Together from the terrace they could see

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.

Translation from French by © Timothy Ades