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Idylls and Lyrics of The Nile

By H. D. Rawnsley
Rawnsley, H. D. (1851-1920)

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[section]
  
[dedication]
 I. 
I A RETURN TO EGYPT
 II. 
II THE FIRST CALL TO PRAYER
 III. 
III THE DANCING DERVISHES
 IV. 
IV EL FÂT'HA
 V. 
V AÎSHA'S TEARS
 VI. 
VI STREET CRIES
 VII. 
VII THE FATHER OF THE CATS
 VIII. 
VIII DESERTED BY THE CARAVAN
 IX. 
IX THE SAKÎYEH AT THE FOUNTAIN OF THE SUN
 X. 
X AT HELIOPOLIS
 XI. 
XI THE OBELISK AT HELIOPOLIS
 XII. 
XII MENA HOUSE
 XIII. 
XIII THE PYRAMID OF MEN-KAU-RA
 XIV. 
XIV MORNING MIST ON THE GREAT PYRAMID
 XV. 
XV THE DREAM OF THOTHMES IV
 XVI. 
XVI BEFORE THE STATUE OF CHEPHREN
 XVII. 
XVII SISTE VIATOR, ORA PRO NOBIS!
 XVIII. 
XVIII THE SHÊKH EL BELED
 XIX. 
XIX THE LADY NEFERT
 XX. 
XX A QUEEN'S GAZELLE
 XXI. 
XXI THE MUMMY OF SESOSTRIS
 XXII. 
XXII AN OLD-WORLD HERO
 XXIII. 
XXIII AFTER THE BATTLE OF MAHUTA
 XXIV. 
XXIV IN THE FIELDS OF MÎT-RAHÎNEH
 XXV. 
XXV LIFTING THE COLOSSAL STATUE OF RAMESES II
 XXVI. 
XXVI AT THE TOMB OF THI
 XXVII. 
XXVII AT JOSEPH'S TOMB
 XXVIII. 
XXVIII AHMED THE CARPENTER
 XXIX. 
XXIX EVENING
 XXX. 
XXX NIGHT WATCHERS
 XXXI. 
XXXI NILE BOATS
 XXXII. 
XXXII A SCARAB
 XXXIII. 
XXXIII THE SHADÛF-MAN
 XXXIV. 
XXXIV THE MARRIAGE OF THE PALMS
 XXXV. 
XXXV WATER-CARRIERS
 XXXVI. 
XXXVI WATER-CARRIERS
 XXXVII. 
XXXVII WATER-CARRIERS
 XXXVIII. 
XXXVIII A BUFFALO RIDE
 XXXIX. 
XXXIX THE AFTER-GLOW
 XL. 
XL PADDY-BIRDS
 XLI. 
XLI A NILE BOAT-LOAD
 XLII. 
XLII A MONKISH SWIMMER
 XLIII. 
XLIII AT THE TOMB OF AMENI AMENEMHÂT
 XLIV. 
XLIV THE DREAM-CITY OF KHUENÂTEN
 XLV. 
XLV GOING TO ASSIOUT
 XLVI. 
XLVI BIRD-SCARING
 XLVII. 
XLVII A WAYSIDE BABE
 XLVIII. 
XLVIII AT ABYDOS
 XLIX. 
XLIX AT KENEH
 L. 
L AT DENDERAH
 LI. 
LI A PORTRAIT OF CLEOPATRA.
 LII. 
LII A PAPYRUS HUNT
 LIII. 
LIII AT THE RAMESSEUM
 LIV. 
LIV IN A KING'S TOMB
 LV. 
LV QUEEN HATASU
 LVI. 
LVI HOW THE COLOSSI CAME TO THEBES
 LVII. 
LVII AN INSCRIPTION ON THE VOCAL MEMNON
 LVIII. 
LVIII QUAILS AND THE VOCAL MEMNON
 LIX. 
LIX HABEEBEH'S LOVE
 LX. 
LX AT KOM OMBO
 LXI. 
LXI A POTSHERD AT ELEPHANTINE
 LXII. 
LXII SHOOTING THE CATARACT
 LXII. 
LXII AT PHILAE
 LXIV. 
LXIV THE MAHDI'S MESSAGE

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122

LIV IN A KING'S TOMB

(BIBAN EL MÛLUK)

Oh, if I had been the soul of a king
Built up in a painted charnel cave,
My hands would have tried wide open to fling
The prison gate of my stifling grave.
And down thro' the valley of herbless heat
I should surely have sought the blossoming plain;
There sat among clover, and cool green wheat,
And nevermore back have returned again.
For crocodile jaws and serpents of flame,
And pigs and purgatorial fires
Are well in their way, but the texts are the same;
Of ‘Āpepi's’ folds one very soon tires.
123

And the soul escaped from the body's thrall
Had little need more of lounging chairs,
Of harpers harping upon the wall,
Of pots of unguent and funeral wares.
And loosed from the flesh that has felt Death's sting,
And freed from the body's anguish and strife,
One would give all the painter's imagining
For a vision of growth and of painless life.
 

The serpent ‘Āpepi,’ or Apophis, as the spirit of evil and destroyer of the light, is seen figured in many tombs, notably in the tomb of Seti i., called Belzoni's.

Visitors to the tomb of Rameses iii.—Bruce's tomb—will remember the chairs, harpers, unguents, etc. referred to.

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