CARVED by a mighty race whose vanished hands Formed empires more destructible than I, In sultry silence I forever lie, Wrapped in the shifting garment of the sands. Below me, Pharaoh's scintillating bands With clashings of loud cymbals have passed by, And the eternal reverence of the sky Falls royally on me and all my lands. The record of the future broods in me; I have with worlds of blazing stars been crowned, But none my subtle mystery bath known Save one, who made his way through blood and sea, The Corsican, prophetic and renowned, To whom I spake, one awful night alone! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SNOW-SHOWER by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT SONG OF SUMMER by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR TO A CATY-DID by PHILIP FRENEAU IT COULDN'T BE DONE by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST MILTON'S PRAYER [OF PATIENCE, OR, IN BLINDNESS] by ELIZABETH LLOYD HOWELL THE FIRE OF DRIFTWOOD; DEVEREUX FARM, NEAR MARBLEHEAD by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW |