Chapter II

Egypt! My Egypt! Actium, and thou
The glory and the wonder of the world,
Titles and place, all that I had are now
Rolled up within a sphere of flame and hurled
Into the gulfs of doom; quaking of earth,
And thunder, as of gods deriding, fill
The darkness and the void of those abysses:
Yet in my anger and my anguish still
Hath Love his ancient way, stirring to birth
Dreams of the lost, dead days, thy lips and kisses.