Sémiramis, 1904

when the universe is silent, fearful and reserved,
before the blazing star of a city at its zenith.
Soon, an immense clamour of joy will resound,
springing from the Assyrian heart!
Sémiramis, the queen who surpasses all kings,
returns, dazzling with victory.
She has bowed to the yoke and forced to pay tribute,
the ancestress of nations, venerable Egypt!
But, while Nineveh’s jubilant palaces are decorated,
littering the streets with carpets and palms,
within the fever and triumphant climax,
alone with my cares, at the summit of this temple,
I meditate, a seer disconcerted by my vision!
In this book of the sky, where words are worlds,
I have read an obscure menace.
Sémiramis, always joyful in her conquests, and her sword in hand,
will see her star blemished, and will soon abandon her breastplate
an inexplicable vision, that defies my age
and has forced me to recourse to the Chaldean mages
Despite the secular hatred among races,
these proud thinkers need me to halt
the cruel flight of the Assyrian sword:
Ourkham will come, the subtle Babylonian, the fabled soothsayer.
The terrace of of Istar is the right place for secret words….” [/box]