The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang Edited by Mrs. Lang |
I. |
I. |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
VI. |
VII. |
Ballade of Cleopatra's Needle
|
II. |
III. |
IV. |
The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang | ||
242
Ballade of Cleopatra's Needle
Ye giant shades of Ra and Tum,
Ye ghosts of gods Egyptian,
If murmurs of our planet come
To exiles in the precincts wan
Where, fetish or Olympian,
To help or harm no more ye list;
Look down, if look ye may, and scan
This monument in London mist!
Ye ghosts of gods Egyptian,
If murmurs of our planet come
To exiles in the precincts wan
Where, fetish or Olympian,
To help or harm no more ye list;
Look down, if look ye may, and scan
This monument in London mist!
Behold, the hieroglyphs are dumb
That once were read of him that ran
When seistron, cymbal, trump, and drum
Wild music of the Bull began;
When through the chanting priestly clan
Walk'd Ramses, and the high sun kiss'd
This stone, with blessing scored and ban—
This monument in London mist.
That once were read of him that ran
When seistron, cymbal, trump, and drum
Wild music of the Bull began;
When through the chanting priestly clan
Walk'd Ramses, and the high sun kiss'd
This stone, with blessing scored and ban—
This monument in London mist.
243
The stone endures though gods be numb;
Though human effort, plot, and plan
Be sifted, drifted, like the sum
Of sands in wastes Arabian.
What king may deem him more than man,
What priest says faith can time resist
While this endures to mark their span—
This monument in London mist?
Though human effort, plot, and plan
Be sifted, drifted, like the sum
Of sands in wastes Arabian.
What king may deem him more than man,
What priest says faith can time resist
While this endures to mark their span—
This monument in London mist?
Envoy
Prince, the stone's shade on your divanFalls; it is longer than ye wist:
It preaches, as time's gnomon can,
This monument in London mist!
The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang | ||