THE DESERT QUEEN
Cereus Giganteus; the “Giant Cactus” of the Southwest.
I was Zenobia in the olden timeAnd ruled the desert from Palmyra’s walls;I flung my challenge to imperial RomeSo far that still across the years it callsIn proud defiance—but my halls are dust;The jackal suns him at the temple door;The wind-blown sands hide street and corridorAnd heap the palace floor.Forgotten is Aurelian and his might;Above his grave the beggar children smile;And I, who swayed the East in other days,Am mistress now of many a Western mile:Crowned with a coronal of snowy flowers,And armed and guarded with a thousand spears,I dream—while dim mirages recreateIn shimmering light the splendor of past years.