Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MEMORIES, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR Poet's Biography First Line: Rare was the cloud by volga's stream Last Line: Ye glow and glide eternally! Alternate Author Name(s): Dean Subject(s): Egypt; Memory | ||||||||
RARE was the cloud by Volga's stream When morning over Asia shone The cloud that caught its crimson beam And sailed o'er earth and sky supreme, Wrapped in a fiery-purple gleam; An eagle from the Oural blown, A messenger of bliss or ban With wide wings drifting past Kazan! And dome and cross and minaret A moment in its bloom were set; Then flame and purple paled to gray And down the steppe dissolved in day. When sunset's wide resplendent glow O'er Tyre and Sidon faded slow Through gold and rose and violet Till Sharon's plain with dew was wet And the hills darkened, one by one, And night came down on Lebanon That hour like gates of Paradise The peaks of Hermon barred the skies And zephyrs lulled the pulsing air Till mount and vale seemed lost in prayer; From Moab to the northern strand 'Twas Holy Land, 'twas Holy Land! Rich are the hues that flush and steep In twilight grandeur Egypt's river, When cool the winds from Philæe creep Past Karnak's immemorial sleep And Memnon's watchers fain to keep Their gaze adown the east forever! While weird the pyramids recline, Wan forms against the golden shine, And through the orange dusk the plain Dims to the desert and the main. Ah, cloud and peak and stream, for me Ye glow and glide eternally! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MEMORY AS A HEARING AID by TONY HOAGLAND THE SAME QUESTION by JOHN HOLLANDER FORGET HOW TO REMEMBER HOW TO FORGET by JOHN HOLLANDER ON THAT SIDE by LAWRENCE JOSEPH MEMORY OF A PORCH by DONALD JUSTICE BEYOND THE HUNTING WOODS by DONALD JUSTICE COLUMBUS DYING [MAY 20, 1506] by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR SA-CA-GA-WE-A; THE INDIAN GIRL WHO GUIDED LEWIS AND CLARK by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR |
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