Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE KEYSTONE, by MARGARET CLYDE ROBERTSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE KEYSTONE, by                    
First Line: The singing wire has spanned its perilous way
Last Line: "to egypt's straining peasant. Kings forget."
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Egypt; Nile (river)


The singing wire has spanned its perilous way
Into the vale of ancient holy things.
Across the Nile and desert waste it flings
Its babbling tongue; where once o'er kingly clay
The God of Silence held unchallenged sway.
Do sleeping monarchs hear vague whisperings
And mutter to the Sphinx, "These speaking strings
The straining peasants bear, whose gift are they?
The poet's dream the scientist made real;
He snared elusive fancies in his net
And wed them to achievement. Should the seal
Of royal favor on his brow be set
Or grace the dreamer's?" Hark! the Sphinx: "I kneel
To Egypt's straining peasant. Kings forget."





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