Lorn land of silence, land of awe! Lorn, lawless land of Moslem will, -- The great Law-giver and the law Have gone away together. Still The sun shines on; still Nilus darkly red Steals on between his awful walls of dead. And sapphire skies still bend as when Proud Karnak's countless columns propped The corners of the world; when men Kept watch where massive Cheops topped Their utmost reach of thought, and sagely drew Their star-lit lines along the trackless blue. But Phthah lies prostrate evermore; And Thoth and Neith all are gone; And huge Osiris hears no more, Thebes' melodies; nor Mut at On; Yet one lone obelisk still lords the spot Where Plato sat to learn. But On is not. Nor yet has Time encompassed all; You trace your finger o'er a name That mocks at age within the wall Of fearful Karnak. Sword nor flame Shall touch what men have journeyed far to touch And felt eternity in daring such! "Juda Melchi Shishak!" Read The Holy Book; read how that he With chariot and champing steed Invaded far and fair Judea. Yea, read the chronicle of red hands laid On "shields of gold which Solomon had made." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SELLING HER ENGAGEMENT RING by KAREN SWENSON NIGHT IN ARIZONA by SARA TEASDALE THALATTA! THALATTA!; CRY OF THE TEN THOUSAND by JOSEPH BROWNLEE BROWN ONLY ONE MOTHER by GEORGE COOPER THE BARD; A PINDARIC ODE by THOMAS GRAY THE RETORT by GEORGE POPE MORRIS PRAYERS OF STEEL by CARL SANDBURG |