Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EGYPT, by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EGYPT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw two vultures, gray they were and gorged
Last Line: To use his values. Only this I know.
Subject(s): Egypt; Nile (river)


I SAW two vultures, gray they were and gorged:
One on a mosque sat high, asleep he seemed,
Claw-stayed within the silver crescent's curve;
Not far away, another, gray as he,
As full content and somnolent with food,
Clutched with instinctive grip the golden cross
High on the church an alien creed had built.
Yon in the museum mighty Rameses sleeps,
For some new childhood swaddled like a babe.
Osiris and Jehovah, Allah, Christ,
This land hath known, and, in the dawn of time,
The brute-god-creature crouching in the sand,
Ere Rameses worshipped and ere Seti died.
How much of truth to each new faith He gave
Who is the very father of all creeds,
I know not now—nor shall know. Ever still
Past temple, palace, tomb, the great Nile flows,
Free and more free of bounty as men learn
To use his values. Only this I know.





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