Before there was in Egypt any sound

The boom, the foam, and the mad flash of itAll made a magic symphony; but whenI thought upon the coming of hard menTo cut those patriarchal trees away,And turn to gold the silver of that spray,I shuddered. Yet a gladness now and thenDid wake me to myself till I was gladIn earnest, and was welcoming…

Of golden horns that sang to restOld bones of warriors under ground,Far now from all the bannered waysWhere flash the legions of the sun,You fade–as if the last of daysWere fading, and all wars were done.

Of things that only children seeFloats in a mist of light and shade:They pass, a flimsy cavalcade,And with a weak, remindful glow,The falling embers break and fade,As one by one the phantoms go.Then, with a melancholy gleeTo think where once my fancy strayed,I muse on what the years may beWhose coming tales are all unsaid,Till…

Sad wind that shrieked, and answered with a shriek,Reverberant through lonely corridors.The old man heard it; and he heard, perforce,Words out of lips that were no more to speak—Words of the past that shook the old man’s cheekLike dead, remembered footsteps on old floors.And then there were the leaves that plagued him so!The brown, thin…

She wears a proud humilityFor what it was that willed it so –That her degree should be so greatAmong the favoured of the LordThat she may scarcely bear the weightOf her bewildering reward.As one apart, immune, alone,Or featured for the shining ones,And like to none that she has knownOf other women’s other sons –The firm…

The master played this way and that,And Atherton, amazed thereat,Said “Now I have a thing in viewThat will enlighten one or two,And make a difference or soIn what it is they do not know.”The morning stars together sangAnd forth a mighty music rang—Not heard by many, save as toldAgain through magic manifoldBy such a few…