Ebony and Crystal/Memnon at Midnight
MEMNON AT MIDNIGHT
(Dedicated to Albert M. Bender)Methought upon the tomb-encumbered shoreI stood, of Egypt's lone, monarchal stream,And saw immortal Memnon, throned supremeIn gloom as of that Memphian night of yore:Fold upon fold purpureal he wore,Beneath the star-borne canopy extreme—Carven of silence and colossal dream,Where waters flowed like sleep forevermore.
Lo, in the darkness, thick with dust of years,How many a ghostly god around his throne,With thronging winds that were forgotten Fames,Stood, ere the dawn restore to ancient earsThe long-withholden thunder of their names,And music stilled to monumental stone.