I. The Builders Of The Pyramid
O, CELESTIAL Khu-fu, Thou
King, art Osiris now.
Our lives were Thine, yet were we free
To live for Thee.
From youth to age we toiled,
All through our lives we toiled.
We saw Thee ! Thou didst hear us sing
Our joy, O King!
Wherefore we builded this
Great temple for Thy bliss:
‘Tis well for us that, dying, we
Shall live in Thee!
Our lives are Thine, and Thou
King art Osiris now
As many as the ocean-waves
We were Thy slaves.
II. A Hymn To Isis
PHTHAH being God most wise
Created sky and earth;
The gods forth from His eyes
Leapt light with joy and mirth;
And from His mouth men came
Like spoken words aflame.
Set, art Thou also He?
Each god is God alone.
Anubis, Thy decree
Is death and none disown
Thy proffered rest; and none
The evil Set has done.
Isis, Whose life is love,
Whose love redeemed from death
All people, She above
The gods shall keep our faith –
Herself the Holy One,
More dazzling than the sun I
Sweet Hope of god and man,
Isis, beloved as well.
More lovely art Thou than
Even the gods can tell:
In His high ecstasy
God too must worship Thee.
III. A Prayer To The Great God Thoth And To His Avatar, The Ibis.
Her song rose clear and sweet,
Thoth to Thy realms the moon;
And I lay at her feet
And listened half aswoon.
One ibis fleeting past
Dropt from the blue bright day,
And watched her, and at last
Flew by, flew far away.
And I have loved in vain!
O Ibis speedily
Come back, come back again.
Give back her love to me
IV. Bridal Song
AT dawn we rose, our mirth sped high
And chased the darkness from the sky;
The herdsmen with their flocks go by.
Night shall return with love and sleep.
The dawn flashed past the paling moon;
The day’s toil is a joy to keep;
We laboured resting well at noon.
Night shall be warm with love and sleep.
More peaceful than the tomb is she;
Her feet I kiss so tenderly;
Her kisses like the stars shall be
When night returns with love and sleep.
The herdsmen by the riverside
They wander loitering by their sheep;
They hear my song, they know my pride :
The night is warm with love and sleep.
The Embarkation For Bubastis
WELL freighted with gay flowers
And goodly wine, O Bast,
We’ll fling aside the hours
Like glittering spray upcast,
Up to the stars divine !
The sails pull at the mast –
Hail, Bast, Thou God of Wine !
This day shall lengthen out
Through many dawns, we swear –
Men met we’ll pledge and flout
And drink them from all care –
There shall be nought amiss :
With buds we’ll deck the hair
Of every maid we kiss I
O we have wine and flowers
And songs and laughter, hark!
The amorous dawn is ours
And love dreads not the dark –
The green reeds dip and shine;
Put off, let us embark –
Drink, drink, O drink this wine !
VI. Song.
THE sun goes down ablaze and bright,
So stretch and rub your eyes:
We have slept all day; we were drunk all
night –
O, wine makes all men wise!
So now we’ll pledge in turn each star,
And fools may drowse and yawn :
These flagons must be drained – Ha I Ha 1
We’ll drink from dusk to dawn!
VII. In The House Of Love
WHITE Nile boats flitting by
Mock the blue sky;
No longer need I sigh.
The tall palms barely stir.
I wait for her.
Night came so tardily
These gifts she had of me,
Pale pearls out of the sea,
Silk, fragrant oil and myrrh:
I dreamed of her.
This necklet now I bring,
This robe, this jewelled string –
O, she will dance and sing!
She is mine I Fate shall not err
From me or her.
White as her holy bed,
The moon burns overhead
O gold is rich and red!
These lotus-buds aver
My love for her.
Fruit I have brought and wine
And Thou art here ! – Divine
Xight shall incarnadine
Thyself, enrapturing me
I crave for thee !
VIII. Harvest Song
(An Adaptation).
THRESH, thresh, ye oxen, well,
Yea, thresh for us amain;
The straw is yours – to sell :
We’ll keep the golden grain.
Well stalled, yourselves yoke up,
Thresh for yourselves again:
We’ll home to drowse and sup –
We’ll keep the golden grain.
IX. A Midday Festival
Tra Thou art now at noon,
At dawn Harmachis, soon
Shalt Thou be Tmu ere night-
We pledge Thee, O Thou Sun,
Feast Thou on our delight –
Three gods art Thou, yet One !
This is the mystery
Of all the gods there be:
There is one God alone :
And every thought is His –
Yet each god has his throne:
The Lord knows how that is !
All wisdom springs from doubt,
Death vomits all men out;
So kneel to Bird and Calf:
We know not what to think –
But we know how to laugh.
And we know how to drink!
X. A Song For The King S Feast
REJOICE, until the silence falls,
The gentle silence of the tomb,
Rejoice within Thy palace walls,
O King, what grief could stay thy doom?
Yet life is thine and always life,
And love and strife.
O, death is but a well-wished draught,
To lull him to forgetfulness,
Who, having lived and loved, and laughed.
Would slumber mute and visionless;
So do we die that we may keep
The boon of sleep.
That we may sleep and then rise up,
So the dawn breaks, now here, now there;
Kiss, laugh, lift up this tingling cup;
No man can cease from life, I swear;
For life is ours and always life.
And love and strife.
(E J Rupert Atkinson)
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, God Poems, Life Poems, Night Poems, Mind Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Sleep PoemsBased on Keywords: avatar, riverside, osiris, stalled, herdsmen, incarnadine, vomits, upcast, tardily, ibis, aswoon