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1 " CLEOPATRA TO THE ASPThe bright mirror I braved: the devil in itLoved me like my soul, my soul:Now that I seek myself in a serpentMy smile is fatal.Nile moves in me; my thighs splayInto the squalled Mediterranean;My brain hides in that AbyssiniaLost armies foundered towards.Desert and river unwrinkle again.Seeming to bring them the waters that make drunkCaesar, Pompey, Antony I drank.Now let the snake reign.A half-deity out of Capricorn,This rigid Augustus mountsWith his sword virginal indeed; and has shornSummarily the moon-horned riverFrom my bed. May the moonRuin him with virginity! Drink me, now, wholeWith coiled Egypt's past; then from my deltaSwim like a fish toward Rome. "
― Ted Hughes , Lupercal