The Nile
The Nile
Leigh Hunt
It flows through old hushed Egypt and its sands,
Like some grave mighty thought threading a dream,
And times and things, as in that vision, seem
Keeping along it their eternal stands, —
Sphinxes and ruins and the giant bands
Of the old builders crowd about its brim,
With a dull murmur not unlike the whim
Of some far humming on their pensive strands.
The laughing rains and the glad sunny shores
Give a like joy to all the grassy lea
Around; while that old river, strange and solemn,
Makes Egypt famous, though its voice's column
Is but a sound-wave, which the current pours
Into each traveller's thought eternally.
Verse breaks and indentation are preserved. Wrapped lines have a hanging indent. Width adapts to your screen.
Foliage, 1818.
