A Ballad of Dead Ladies

I WONDER in what Isle of Bliss

Apollo’s music fills the air;

In what green valley Artemis

For young Endymion spreads the snare:

Where Venus lingers debonair:

The Wind has blown them all away—

And Pan lies piping in his lair—

Where are the Gods of Yesterday?

Say where the great Semiramis

Sleeps in a rose-red tomb; and where

The precious dust of Cæsar is,

Or Cleopatra’s yellow hair:

Where Alexander Do-and-Dare;

The Wind has blown them all away—

And Redbeard of the Iron Chair;

Where are the Dreams of Yesterday?

Where is the Queen of Herod’s kiss,

And Phryne in her beauty bare;

By what strange sea does Tomyris

With Dido and Cassandra share

Divine Proserpina’s despair;

The Wind has blown them all away—

For what poor ghost does Helen care?

Where are the Girls of Yesterday?

ENVOY

Alas for lovers! Pair by pair

The Wind has blown them all away:

The young and yare, the fond and fair:

Where are the Snows of Yesterday?