Classic Poem

Now let us drink and tread the earth
With dancing mirth.
Now, comrades, let us open up
The rare wine stored away so long,
And raise, with many a glowing cup,
A thankful and victorious song.

A short time since all men had seen
The Ethiop Queen
Plotting to rule on land and sea;
Sending fresh ships on every wave,
To flood fair Rome with savagery
And turn the Empire to a grave.

But soon her madness was dispelled.
Her hopes were quelled
When all her ships went up in flame
And Caesar, giving swift pursuit,
Brought back her reason as she came
Nearer the shores she left to loot.

Hot as the hunter out to stalk
The hare; or hawk
After a pigeon, Caesar swept
To make his triumph greater still.
But, scorning chains, she never wept
Or shrank from her majestic will.

She smiled at death and dared to grasp
The deadly asp.
Ruined and lost, she never mourned;
She let the poison have its way.
Unqueened, she kept her throne, and scorned
To make a Roman holiday.