Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Africa: Vol. XXIV. 1876–79. | | | | Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia: Sais | | Sais | | Richard Chenevix Trench (1807–1886) |
| | | AN AWFUL statue, by a veil half hid, | |
| At Sais stands. One came, to whom was known | |
| All lore committed to Etruscan stone, | |
| And all sweet voices, that dull Time has chid | |
| To silence now, by antique pyramid, | 5 |
| Skirting the desert, heard; and what the deep | |
| May in its dimly lighted chambers keep, | |
| Where Genii groan beneath the seal-bound lid. | |
| He dared to raise that yet unlifted veil | |
| With hands not pure, but never might unfold | 10 |
| What there he saw: madness, the shadow, fell | |
| On his few days, ere yet he went to dwell | |
| With Night’s eternal people, and his tale | |
| Has thus remained, and will remain, untold. | | | | |
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