| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1083. A Look into the Gulf |
| | | By Edwin Markham |
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| I LOOKED one night, and there Semiramis, | |
| With all her mourning doves about her head, | |
| Sat rocking on an ancient road of Hell, | |
| Withered and eyeless, chanting to the moon | |
| Snatches of song they sang to her of old | 5 |
| Upon the lighted roofs of Nineveh. | |
| And then her voice rang out with rattling laugh: | |
| “The bugles! they are crying back again— | |
| Bugles that broke the nights of Babylon, | |
| And then went crying on through Nineveh. | 10 |
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| Stand back, ye trembling messengers of ill! | |
| Women, let go my hair: I am the Queen, | |
| A whirlwind and a blaze of swords to quell | |
| Insurgent cities. Let the iron tread | |
| Of armies shake the earth. Look, lofty towers: | 15 |
| Assyria goes by upon the wind!” | |
| And so she babbles by the ancient road, | |
| While cities turned to dust upon the Earth | |
| Rise through her whirling brain to live again— | |
| Babbles all night, and when her voice is dead | 20 |
| Her weary lips beat on without a sound | |
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