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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MEMNON AT MIDNIGHT; TO MR. ALBERT M. BENDER by CLARK ASHTON SMITH

First Line: METHOUGHT UPON THE TOMB-ENCUMBERED SHORE
Last Line: AND MUSIC STILLED TO MONUMENTAL STONE.
Subject(s): EGYPT;

Methought upon the tomb-encumbered shore
I stood by Egypt's lone, monarchal stream
And saw immortal Memnon, throned supreme
In gloom as of that Memphian night of yore:
Fold upon fold purpureal he wore,
Beneath the star-borne canopy extreme—
Carven of silence and colossal dream,
Where waters flowed like sleep forevermore.

Lo, in the darkness, thick with dust of years,
How many a ghostly god around his throne,
With thronging winds that were forgotten Fames,
Stood, ere the dawn restore to ancient ears
The long-withholden thunder of their names,
And music stilled to monumental stone.



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