Poems (Jordan)/The Sphinx
THE SPHINX
[1]Cannibal of the ages! thou'st devoured
The body of this life, turning it all
To stone, for, coff'ning in thyself the hoard,
Thou'st shaped thyself with ghoulish carnival!
Mysterious creature! whose changeless face—
Enframed in Time—looks out defyingly
Upon us all, challenging us to trace
The path unto the Pow'r which fashioned thee!
The body of this life, turning it all
To stone, for, coff'ning in thyself the hoard,
Thou'st shaped thyself with ghoulish carnival!
Mysterious creature! whose changeless face—
Enframed in Time—looks out defyingly
Upon us all, challenging us to trace
The path unto the Pow'r which fashioned thee!
Tangible Silence! Life statued in stone!
Thou great repository of secrets
Of ev'ry land! is aught to thee unknown?
Thy cruel unresponsiveness begets
In ev'ry eager heart, a mad desire
To gaze into thine eyes,—so deep and cold;
So dully all-uncaring of the ire
Their calm hath stirred—until they loose their hold
Upon the all they hide, that we may see
What lurks beneath their maskless mystery!
Thou great repository of secrets
Of ev'ry land! is aught to thee unknown?
Thy cruel unresponsiveness begets
In ev'ry eager heart, a mad desire
To gaze into thine eyes,—so deep and cold;
So dully all-uncaring of the ire
Their calm hath stirred—until they loose their hold
Upon the all they hide, that we may see
What lurks beneath their maskless mystery!
Cold corpse of the strange Spirit of the East;
Warmly shrouded in desert openness;
Our hearts unveil themselves to thee, as Priest,
And thou dost answer by thy wordlessness.
Confessor! unto whom we humans bow,
Thou dost, with eloquent, uplifted Face,
Plead with our God, through Earth's unending Now,
Those gifts for which, in thee, our dumbness prays!
Warmly shrouded in desert openness;
Our hearts unveil themselves to thee, as Priest,
And thou dost answer by thy wordlessness.
Confessor! unto whom we humans bow,
Thou dost, with eloquent, uplifted Face,
Plead with our God, through Earth's unending Now,
Those gifts for which, in thee, our dumbness prays!
Thou changeless comforter! our hearts in thee
Find the companion of their speechlessness;
Brave bearer of thy being's mystery.
Thou sharest thus, all human loneliness!
So many thoughts have entered into thee,
And thou receivest all but givest none;
Thus making of thy greed a ministry
Of understanding help to ev'ry one.
Find the companion of their speechlessness;
Brave bearer of thy being's mystery.
Thou sharest thus, all human loneliness!
So many thoughts have entered into thee,
And thou receivest all but givest none;
Thus making of thy greed a ministry
Of understanding help to ev'ry one.
Thou witness of Earth's uncalendared years!
Unsignatured message no man hath read!
Single survivor of long-shattered spheres;
Type of man's soul, deathless among the dead!
Thy gaze is e'er on Eternity set—
Not on fading tints in this fragile globe—
Waiting, waiting, as Earth waited 'ere yet
Time had for nude Life wrought the seamless robe.
Unsignatured message no man hath read!
Single survivor of long-shattered spheres;
Type of man's soul, deathless among the dead!
Thy gaze is e'er on Eternity set—
Not on fading tints in this fragile globe—
Waiting, waiting, as Earth waited 'ere yet
Time had for nude Life wrought the seamless robe.
- ↑ The word "sphinx" denotes "flesh-eater."