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117
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
The Nile is yet a noble stream,
And sweeps in triumph on;
E'en as it swept when time was young,
In ages past and gone:
When Egypt was a land whose fame
O'er all the world was spread,
Whence knowledge in a barbarous age
Her light and splendour shed.
And sweeps in triumph on;
E'en as it swept when time was young,
In ages past and gone:
When Egypt was a land whose fame
O'er all the world was spread,
Whence knowledge in a barbarous age
Her light and splendour shed.
And yearly, as in days of yore,
Nile's waters wide expand,
Pouring their tributary flood
To fertilize the land;
For Nature still performs her part,
Unconscious of decay,
Though Egypt's power, and pride, and wealth
Have, dream-like, passed away.
Nile's waters wide expand,
Pouring their tributary flood
To fertilize the land;
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Unconscious of decay,
Though Egypt's power, and pride, and wealth
Have, dream-like, passed away.
Still round Rosetta's garden groves
A lingering beauty reigns,
Brightening the broad and busy Nile,
And Egypt's outstretched plains:
The boats, with their wide sails outspread,
Pass up and down the stream,
As if her by-gone loveliness
Were not a vanished dream.
A lingering beauty reigns,
Brightening the broad and busy Nile,
And Egypt's outstretched plains:
The boats, with their wide sails outspread,
Pass up and down the stream,
As if her by-gone loveliness
Were not a vanished dream.
And there, in gardens richer far
Than fancy can portray,
The sycamore and fig tree make
A twilight at noon-day;
e date, banana, citron, lime,
In wild luxuriance grow,
'mid their brightly varied green
The blushing roses blow.
Than fancy can portray,
The sycamore and fig tree make
A twilight at noon-day;
e date, banana, citron, lime,
In wild luxuriance grow,
'mid their brightly varied green
The blushing roses blow.
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'tis not living beauty's charm
Which o'er old Nile hath cast
It's magic influence; that proud spell
Is borrowed from “the past!”
The thoughts and feelings it awakes
Most touching and sublime,
Are linked with memories that have birth
In the far olden time!
Which o'er old Nile hath cast
It's magic influence; that proud spell
Is borrowed from “the past!”
The thoughts and feelings it awakes
Most touching and sublime,
Are linked with memories that have birth
In the far olden time!
Her shepherd kings, who yet recall
The patriarchal day;
Her maze of hieroglyphic lore,
Through which we darkly stray;
Astronomers, who nightly watched
The stars from highest towers;
Huge sphynx and mighty pyramid,
That speak their builders' powers;
The patriarchal day;
Her maze of hieroglyphic lore,
Through which we darkly stray;
Astronomers, who nightly watched
The stars from highest towers;
Huge sphynx and mighty pyramid,
That speak their builders' powers;
Fragments of temples, in whose fanes
To monsters—men have knelt;
Ruins of palaces—wherein
Monarchs of old have dwelt;
Tradition's legend, history's page,
And many a mouldering pile,
Alike associate with the past
Thy glory, ancient Nile!
To monsters—men have knelt;
Ruins of palaces—wherein
Monarchs of old have dwelt;
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And many a mouldering pile,
Alike associate with the past
Thy glory, ancient Nile!
A higher and a holier charm,
Than even these can give,
In many a young and guileless heart,
Must bid thy memory live;
'Tis linked with sacred chronicles,
Whose faithful records tell
Of Pharaoh's pride and punishment,
And captive Israel!
Than even these can give,
In many a young and guileless heart,
Must bid thy memory live;
'Tis linked with sacred chronicles,
Whose faithful records tell
Of Pharaoh's pride and punishment,
And captive Israel!
'Twas by thy side the tyrant held,
In bondage dark and drear,
The chosen people of their God,
Through many a lingering year;
Until by his Almighty power,
And with an outstretched hand,
He led them forth to liberty
In their long-promised land!
In bondage dark and drear,
The chosen people of their God,
Through many a lingering year;
Until by his Almighty power,
And with an outstretched hand,
He led them forth to liberty
In their long-promised land!
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And on thy stream to death was doomed
The helpless Hebrew child,
Had not his artless innocence
A princess' heart beguiled;
For her's was woman's melting heart,
And her's was woman's soul;
Nor could her cruel sire's command
Their influence control.
The helpless Hebrew child,
Had not his artless innocence
A princess' heart beguiled;
For her's was woman's melting heart,
And her's was woman's soul;
Nor could her cruel sire's command
Their influence control.
That outcast child became a man,
And with his manhood grew
Love of his kindred and his race,
Sense of their outrage too!
Which, nursed in Midian solitude,
Became a holy zeal,
A heaven-born impulse, urging him
For Israel to appeal.
And with his manhood grew
Love of his kindred and his race,
Sense of their outrage too!
Which, nursed in Midian solitude,
Became a holy zeal,
A heaven-born impulse, urging him
For Israel to appeal.
He left the plains of Midian,
With Aaron, his compeer,
To bear the message of I AM,
Unto the tyrant's ear:
There, with a prophet's mien and step,
The palace courts he trod,
And fearlessly made known the will
Of captive Israel's God!
With Aaron, his compeer,
To bear the message of I AM,
Unto the tyrant's ear:
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The palace courts he trod,
And fearlessly made known the will
Of captive Israel's God!
And He who sent them was not slack
His sovereign power to show,
By signs and tokens manifold
In heaven—on earth below;
The thunder echoed from above,
The fire ran on the ground,
And desolating hail poured down
On Egypt's plains around.
His sovereign power to show,
By signs and tokens manifold
In heaven—on earth below;
The thunder echoed from above,
The fire ran on the ground,
And desolating hail poured down
On Egypt's plains around.
The crimsoned stream rolled by in blood,
As with the battle-fray;
The insect tribes in countless swarms
Darkened the light of day;
And clouds of locusts o'er the land
Were borne on eager wing,
While slimy reptiles thronged in shoals
The palace of the king!
As with the battle-fray;
The insect tribes in countless swarms
Darkened the light of day;
And clouds of locusts o'er the land
Were borne on eager wing,
While slimy reptiles thronged in shoals
The palace of the king!
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Then darkness, even to be felt,
Wrapt in its mantle dread
The monarch's halls, the idols' shrines,
The peasant's lowly shed:
And last, to consummate their woe,
Was heard a cry forlorn;
Proclaiming, at the dead of night,
The death of their first-born!
Wrapt in its mantle dread
The monarch's halls, the idols' shrines,
The peasant's lowly shed:
And last, to consummate their woe,
Was heard a cry forlorn;
Proclaiming, at the dead of night,
The death of their first-born!
Then hurried they their captives forth,
Encumbered with the spoil
Of those who long had held them bound
In thraldom's ceaseless toil:
Thus did the might of Israel's God,
At His supreme decree,
From their dark house of bondage set
His chosen people free.
Encumbered with the spoil
Of those who long had held them bound
In thraldom's ceaseless toil:
Thus did the might of Israel's God,
At His supreme decree,
From their dark house of bondage set
His chosen people free.
Such were the marvels which of yore
Truth's chronicles record,
As wrought beside thee, mighty stream!
To magnify the Lord!
And 'tis the proud prerogative
Of their time-honoured claim,
That gives to Egypt, and the Nile;
Their most enduring fame.
Truth's chronicles record,
As wrought beside thee, mighty stream!
To magnify the Lord!
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Of their time-honoured claim,
That gives to Egypt, and the Nile;
Their most enduring fame.
While miracles sublime as these
With your remembrance dwell,
It were a miracle more strange
Did man not own their spell!
Nor can the wide earth boast a spot
By pilgrim footsteps trod,
Where have been made more manifest
The mighty works of God!
With your remembrance dwell,
It were a miracle more strange
Did man not own their spell!
Nor can the wide earth boast a spot
By pilgrim footsteps trod,
Where have been made more manifest
The mighty works of God!
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