 | A winter on the Nile |  |
10
RAMESES II.
I stand and gaze upon thy mummied face,
Thou who didst deem thyself a demi-god,
Before whom monarchs paled, and kings were awed,—
Thou greatest scion of a royal race,
Lying so still within death's grim embrace.
And art thou he who carried wars abroad,
Who shook the trembling nations with thy nod,
And brought them to thy feet to pray for grace?
Thou who didst deem thyself a demi-god,
Before whom monarchs paled, and kings were awed,—
Thou greatest scion of a royal race,
Lying so still within death's grim embrace.
And art thou he who carried wars abroad,
Who shook the trembling nations with thy nod,
And brought them to thy feet to pray for grace?
Did Moses look into that face so cold,
Those eyes so vacant, and that form so still?
What! Did he brave thee in the days of old,
Defying in God's name thy passionate will,
Which in hard bondage did the Hebrews hold,
Till life was death, and death itself no ill?
Those eyes so vacant, and that form so still?
What! Did he brave thee in the days of old,
Defying in God's name thy passionate will,
Which in hard bondage did the Hebrews hold,
Till life was death, and death itself no ill?
| A winter on the Nile | |