Analysis of Sonnets Of Old Egypt
John Le Gay Brereton 1871 (Sydney) – 1933
The spires of sand spring up at every gust
That bids them dance and scatter and lays them low:
He sits impassive, as the ages flow
And bear superbly the mirage of lust.
The moonbright steel he has witnessed redden and rust,
He has seen storm-proud deep-rooted empires grow,
And watched victorious gods flash forth and go;
And still before him spins the aspiring dust.
What has he seen in that hoar-centuried land
More strange and dreadful in its long delight
Of vain hope-haunted ever-starting quest
Than I can follow across this burning sand
Wherefrom the dizzying phantoms take their flight
Within the compass of a wanderer's breast?
Nicholson Museum: Exhibit 32
The curious look and pass, beholding naught
But yellow skin and small contorted toes:
I see a burning wilderness of woes
And stagger through its quivering air distraught.
I know the paradise a baby wrought
Of old where still the dear blue river flows,
And there's a crouching fear within that knows
To what a desperate havoc it was brought.
Dear Isis, have you not heard Horus sing
His infant ditties, kissed his radiant head,
And laughed at legs that learned to leap and run?
Forget it not. My heart in offering
Lies bare before you; take it, Queen, and spread
Thy sheltering wings about my little son.
The gaudy pageant of the ages hies
Down the dim years, yet many a look is cast
That calls us dumbly, from the abysmal past,
In love that lives amid a world that dies.
I thrill to look on Nefert's friendly eyes,
Mad to recall the night I saw her last,
And yet across that memory has the blast
Whirled the deep desert sand of centuries.
Forgive if I forget thee now, my sweet,
If other eyes have led me to the source
Wherefrom the thirsting heart draws sustenance.
Can pallid marble feel my pulses beat?
We approach the limit of our dusty course
When hearts must live on store of old romance.
Spread on the desert, Seb of mighty thew
Felt cloudy hair, trailed by the evening breeze,
Tingling along each nerve, as by degrees
Nut bowed above him, till his brown arms drew
Her body upon his; so, all night through,
The desert bloomed in starry ecstasies,
Till, even as she sighed in overburdened ease,
Between them thrust the radiant arm of Shu.
Yet they are of the gods, and evermore
Their joy renews itself when earth and sky
Are all one substance in the odorous gloom.
But when two lovers drain their little store
Of mortal bliss and yet are thirsting, why
Inflict on us thy peremptory doom?
“Have I not smiled and kept the world at bay,
Given my friends the joy that dried my tears
And left a savour of salt, and filled the years
With desolate wreckage of each yesterday?
O Khonsu,” with uplifted hands I pray,
“O Master of Love, give respite to my fears;
Before the dust is in my eyes and ears,
Grant me thy light upon the darkening way.”
He gazes mildly from the crescent moon;
The sea grows silent and its shimmering space
Is wave upon wave of sand beyond all sight;
I stretch my arms to take whate'er the boon,
And feel imagined kisses on my face,
Lonely amid the desert of the night.
Scheme | ABBAABBACDECDE X FGGFFGGFHIJHIJ GKKLLKKMNOXNOX PMMPPGMPQRSQRS TXUTTUUTVWDVWD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01111111001 11110100111 1101010101 0110000111 01111101001 111111101001 01010011101 01011100101 111101111 1101001101 1111010101 11110011101 1010010111 010101011 100010010 01001010101 1101010101 1101010011 01011100101 110100101 1111011101 0101010111 1101010111 1101111101 11010111001 0111111101 0111110100 1101111101 11001011101 0101010101 10111100111 1111100101 0111010111 111111101 111011101 01011100101 1011011100 0111011111 1101111101 10111100 1101011101 101010110101 1111111101 1101011101 1101110101 10001111101 1101111111 0100111111 01010101 110111010101 01110100111 111101010 1101011101 11110001001 1111011101 110101111 0111101001 1111010111 1011011111 0101110101 1100101110 111100111 11011110111 0101101101 11110101001 1101010101 01110011001 11011110111 1111111001 0101010111 1001010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 3,036 |
Words | 570 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 1, 14, 14, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 71 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 404 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 93 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:52 min read
- 84 Views
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"Sonnets Of Old Egypt" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23688/sonnets-of-old-egypt>.
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