Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SPHINX by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT

First Line: MAIDEN WITH THE DREAMING EYES
Last Line: HOW CAN SHE BE BUT MAIDEN THEN?
Subject(s): EGYPT; SPHINX;
Maiden with the dreaming eyes,
Thou didst never watch the Nile;
And the blue Boeotian skies
On thy birthplace did not smile.

But the Sphinx, who formed thy ways,
Left thee heiress of her art,
Taught those questions that now raise
Terrors in thy lover's heart.

"Who will tell the dream I see,
Write the song my heart-beats sing?
He revealing this to me,
When he comes shall be my king."

Woe to him who mumbleth here,
Words that are unmeaning breath.
Woe to him! Let dreadful fear
Hold his steps -- they lead to death.

And the Sphinx with starry eyes,
Saldly sees the sons of men
Round her pathway fall and die.
How can she be but maiden then?



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