Classic Poem

“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.