Classic Poem

The dream of all the world was at his feet:
Her eyes were heavy with the night of fate,
When, from the purple couch whereon she sate,
She rose, and took a jewel that was meet
For a queen's breast, where royal pulses beat—
A milk-white pearl, her milk-white bosom's mate,
Dropped in the golden chalice at his plate,
And to his lips held up the nectar sweet
And bade him drink the cup of destiny.
How shall he pledge again? by what emprise
A chalice find that holds a kingdom's fee?
Perchance in that charmed liquor he descries
A madman, raving while his galleys flee,
Who casts a world into the wine-dark sea.