Sonnet in 10 Minutes

Across the reeds of the African Gate,
Where Moses drifted passed the gator's gape,
The fertile nest of Cleopatra's reign
Where Octavian and Caesar there lay
With cherry breast of the Beauteous queen,---
War my beloved, would there be rapt with green
Reeds dabbed in bloody, purple bands of strings
When Caesar entered as a King of Kings.
There, Ptolemy's young corpse was to be lain
By the Nile's waters, as the flocks came
To drink up the waters stained with the blood---
That once Moses had caused to flow in floods---
Now they drink unaffected by the war
While Kings' blood was shed by man's utmost curse.