Poems (Becker)/Lines to a Mummy's Hand
LINES TO THE MUMMY'S HAND AT THE ART MUSEUM, BOSTON.
IN the tropic Egypt land,
How many centuries ago,
Did living crimson, ardent flow
Through this frail hand?
How many centuries ago,
Did living crimson, ardent flow
Through this frail hand?
Did a Pharaoh's burning kiss
E'er own thy dusky beauty queen?
Or hadst thou then for ages been
A thing like this?
E'er own thy dusky beauty queen?
Or hadst thou then for ages been
A thing like this?
Wert thou that frail and sensuous clay
That failed the Hebrew boy to move,—
Damned to all time, for that wild love,
This ruin to display?
That failed the Hebrew boy to move,—
Damned to all time, for that wild love,
This ruin to display?
The power of beauty has been sung
Since Sons of God, from upper air
Gazing, had found Earth's Daughters fair,
When Earth was young.
Since Sons of God, from upper air
Gazing, had found Earth's Daughters fair,
When Earth was young.
With reverent longing filled,
I ask if with th' ecstatic bliss
Of a dread archangel's kiss
This dead dust thrilled!
I ask if with th' ecstatic bliss
Of a dread archangel's kiss
This dead dust thrilled!
My listening soul, with curious awe,
Demands reply; listening in vain,—
Dashes itself in restless pain
Against God's law.
Demands reply; listening in vain,—
Dashes itself in restless pain
Against God's law.
Burning with desperate fire,
Man peers into God's mysteries;
And blackened dust like this defies
His soul's desire.
Man peers into God's mysteries;
And blackened dust like this defies
His soul's desire.
Knowledge and Age and Wisdom come
To humbly own this truth at last:
The Infinite o'errules the Past,
The Sphinx is dumb.
To humbly own this truth at last:
The Infinite o'errules the Past,
The Sphinx is dumb.