 | Phantasmagoria |  |
55
“A Dream of Ancient Egypt.”
(Reminiscence of a Picture.)
Long lit lakes that ripple like green flame blown in ridges,
Steeped in a glamour of moonlight only viewed in dreams,
Temples and pyramids, palaces and bridges,
Hanging as in air o'er mystic streams,
Magic precincts girt with towers fantastic
Where colossal deities repose,
Boats that pass with lights in some Bubastic
Festival—Who knows?
Steeped in a glamour of moonlight only viewed in dreams,
Temples and pyramids, palaces and bridges,
Hanging as in air o'er mystic streams,
Magic precincts girt with towers fantastic
Where colossal deities repose,
Boats that pass with lights in some Bubastic
Festival—Who knows?
Ancient Nile-boats, Syrian and Phœnicean galleys,
Fraught with myrrh, and cinnamon, and sandal-wood,
Passing in and out the arching alleys
Of gigantic pillars down the flood,
Drifting on the tide like barques of Eden,
Vague and shadowy with vast spreading sails,
Manned by spirits, with awful treasures laden,
Blown by magic gales!
Fraught with myrrh, and cinnamon, and sandal-wood,
Passing in and out the arching alleys
Of gigantic pillars down the flood,
Drifting on the tide like barques of Eden,
Vague and shadowy with vast spreading sails,
Manned by spirits, with awful treasures laden,
Blown by magic gales!
Who shall tell that sees them gliding on by legions
What strange freights they bear to Pharoah's feast?
New religions brought from far off regions,
Rites and emblems, sacred bird and beast,
Winged Assyrian gods, Greek phallic symbols,
Bacchus' ivy and Melitta's rites,
Flutes of Pan, or Corybantian cymbals,
Through the moonlit nights.
What strange freights they bear to Pharoah's feast?
New religions brought from far off regions,
Rites and emblems, sacred bird and beast,
Winged Assyrian gods, Greek phallic symbols,
Bacchus' ivy and Melitta's rites,
Flutes of Pan, or Corybantian cymbals,
Through the moonlit nights.
56
Egypt, home of tame and monstrous superstitions,
Where all things are sacred, she has room for all!
Isis and Osiris make no hard conditions;
To their side Cyrene's gods they call.
Only all grow like them in their presence,
Vague and monstrous and Titanic shapes;
Laughing gods of Hellas changing essence
Grow gigantic apes.
Where all things are sacred, she has room for all!
Isis and Osiris make no hard conditions;
To their side Cyrene's gods they call.
Only all grow like them in their presence,
Vague and monstrous and Titanic shapes;
Laughing gods of Hellas changing essence
Grow gigantic apes.
Cat, and goat, and bullock, crocodile, and ibis
In strange brutal acclamation cry, “All hail,”
With the other gods, whose hideous tribe is
Past all reckoning multiplied; and pale,
Memphian Belus in the lofty tower,
Shut up with his shuddering mortal bride,
Stirs on the cushion, when some foreign power
Jars his statue's side.
In strange brutal acclamation cry, “All hail,”
With the other gods, whose hideous tribe is
Past all reckoning multiplied; and pale,
Memphian Belus in the lofty tower,
Shut up with his shuddering mortal bride,
Stirs on the cushion, when some foreign power
Jars his statue's side.
All the god-kings in their gilded generations,
From Men upwards—demi-gods and hero-kings—
Vague dim voices swell the acclamations
When a new god lifts his voice and sings.
Memnon in the desert, swarthy wonder,
As at sunrise, wakes from sleep profound,
Like a mighty lute-string snapt asunder,
Gives a solemn sound!
From Men upwards—demi-gods and hero-kings—
Vague dim voices swell the acclamations
When a new god lifts his voice and sings.
Memnon in the desert, swarthy wonder,
As at sunrise, wakes from sleep profound,
Like a mighty lute-string snapt asunder,
Gives a solemn sound!
Here the sombre walls seem built by more than mortals,
Solid masonry, deep based, and broad, and high;
And the columns of the temple portals
Show like pillars of the earth and sky.
'Neath the pedestals of sculptured lynxes
Creep like flies the masts of river-skiffs,
'Neath the plinths of obelisks and sphinxes
Scrawled with hieroglyphs.
Solid masonry, deep based, and broad, and high;
And the columns of the temple portals
Show like pillars of the earth and sky.
'Neath the pedestals of sculptured lynxes
Creep like flies the masts of river-skiffs,
'Neath the plinths of obelisks and sphinxes
Scrawled with hieroglyphs.
57
Marble mausoleums and sepulchral chambers
Hide each dead king's proud sarcophagus;
Smoking incense from the balmy embers
Climbs the roof with prayer melodious,
And beneath their vast and shadowy places
Gods of basalt and of granite freeze,
With immovable and placid faces,
Hands upon their knees.
Hide each dead king's proud sarcophagus;
Smoking incense from the balmy embers
Climbs the roof with prayer melodious,
And beneath their vast and shadowy places
Gods of basalt and of granite freeze,
With immovable and placid faces,
Hands upon their knees.
But the king, the Pharaoh, from his gorgeous palace
Looks out dreamily on the silent flowing Nile,
Head tiaraed, in his hand a chalice,
Watching slaves thrown to the crocodile.
Minstrels play before on harp and viol;
Clothed alone in mystic ivy-twine
A swart maiden from a golden phial
Pours enchanted wine.
Looks out dreamily on the silent flowing Nile,
Head tiaraed, in his hand a chalice,
Watching slaves thrown to the crocodile.
Minstrels play before on harp and viol;
Clothed alone in mystic ivy-twine
A swart maiden from a golden phial
Pours enchanted wine.
June 27th, 1886.
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