In the shade of the pyramids I knelt and wrote on the sand, While with softly drooping, veiled lids, You watched in the shade of those pyramids The movements of my hand. I wrote of the fall of Troy, I wrote of the Grecian ships, I wrote of Adonis the lovely boy, And of winged Psyche's virgin joy As she clung to Eros' lips. I wrote of the Syrian pearls, Of Herod, the Jewish king. I wrote of Salome's tossing curls And the pale lips sweeter than any girl's, Of her blood-stained offering. But all the while you kept, Dark-lowered your veiled lids. You neither laughed nor murmured nor wept; A watcher would surely have dreamed you slept In the shade of those pyramids. But when I wrote in the sand A little unlegended name, A human unhistoried name, With a bitter cry and uplifted hand You rose and over that famished land, Fled away like a flame. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PARADOX by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DEAR OLD DICK by EDGAR LEE MASTERS DOMEDAY BOOK: JOHN CAMPBELL AND CARL EATON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS LETTERS TO DEAD IMAGISTS by CARL SANDBURG THE FOUR BROTHERS by CARL SANDBURG |