2005-01-07T01:10:00.002+11:00

332BC

Alexander has just conquered Egypt

crows guided him through the desert
to the safety of date palms and the temple
where he left an offering
where oracles proclaimed him a god
and he to die before the age of 33

we'll not speak now of Aristotle's profanity
his innuendo and whispers
of Alexander's mental disturbance
his hateful gossip behind certain doors
following the great one's death

but Aristotle painfully uncertain
of what fate may dictate
removed himself to the country airs
not wishing to die just yet

Cleopatra, descendant - three hundred years on -
distant echo of the great Alexander
was born in his city of temples and palaces
possessor of the greatest library
the world had known
old Alexandria founded, named after him
holder of a beacon of awe
wonder of the ancient world - Pharos -
light-house, salvation homing-beam for sailors

this great city ruled by Cleopatra's family
300 years under the reign of the Greek kings
of Egypt - the Ptolemies

Alexandria
isolated from the rest of Egypt
cut off in the south by the marshes
in the north by the Mediterranean Sea
the city - an oases of Greek culture
collapsed into the harbour
with it's burial chambers for the wealthy
it's dismembered statues of sea gods and queens
rising only now to 21st century light
from the depths of it's secret prison

Cleo's father was Ptolemy X1
her world - a magical alchemy
of Greek, Rome and Egypt

well educated with ideas of her own
Cleo saw the sacred Apis bull at Memphis
wings on it's back, beetle on it's tongue
she kept the caravan route
from the Nile to the Red Sea open
for the porphyry stone she adored
carved and polished revealing it's purple hues

born of the Ptolemies, it was Ptolemy the 1st
who built the library and museum at Alexandria

Cleopatra was to see the tragedy of her lifetime
the great library burnt - with it's manuscripts
of Plato, Homer, Aristotle, old testament bible

legend has it Cleopatra had herself delivered
bound in a Persian rug at the feet of Caesar
in love with her, Caesar travelled
to see the Pyramids, the Sphinx
went to Giza, Memphis
saw the Apis bull, the temples of Sakkara
Karnak still a wonder, old Thebes now in decay
but the Pantheon Coliseum was Cleo's legacy

Cleopatra pregnant now with Caesar's son
gave birth to Caesarian, Mt Etna blew -

(as did more than a century later
Mt Vesuvius - obliterating
Pompeii's temple of Isis
on the island of Philae
Isis, a long ago memory by now
Isis of the long thick hair
that fell in black ringlets
who wore a chaplet
woven with every kind of flower)

Mark Antony met Cleopatra at Tarsus
they became lovers like Caesar eight years before
she became pregnant with Antony's twins

but he went away to war
word eventually came
he had married another, one, Octavia

'tis not for me to recount here
Cleopatra's rage - her wild and jealous frenzy

Antony returned after three years
needing Cleopatra's power, her money
her hand in marriage
to secure this Antony handed over to her :
the whole of Arabia
the copper mines of Cyprus
the turquoise of Sinai
the grain fields of North Africa
the ports of Phoenicia

unable to bear separation from her love
when Antony went to war with Octavian
Cleopatra went along too - in her own ship

Antony fought Octavian of Rome
Octavian won
Cleo left when she saw the war was lost

defeated, Antony turned to follow her
disembarked on a remote island
with one man-servant to tend him

on learning of the death of his beloved Cleopatra
he fell on his own sword, suicided in utter despair

In fact Cleopatra was still alive
but only for the briefest time

surival now her only mode
desperate not to be ruled from Rome
she had her ship hauled overland
from Alexandria to the Red Sea
(following her caravan route -
later to be the Suez Canal )

her intention, to found a new empire
live in India with her three children

Petra of Jordan annihilated and burnt her entire fleet

so, with her tomb of alabaster waiting
she prepared for death
by means of an asp (legend has it)
but those who know, say cobra
is the most rapid death

with the twelfth, the last of the Ptolemies gone
Alexandria ceased to be a centre of learning
the great age of the pharaohs over with Cleopatra

Egypt slowly died - became a province of Rome.

Pamela Sidney 1998

CLEOPATRA POEMby MELBOURNE POET PAMELA SIDNEY