Methought I lived three thousand years ago,
Somewhere in Egypt, near a pyramid;
And in my dream I heard black Memnon playing:
He stood twelve cubits high, and, with a voice
Like thunder when it breaks on hollow shores,
Called on the sky, which answered. Then he awoke
His marble music, and with grave sweet sounds
Enchanted from her chamber the coy Dawn.
He sang, too,—oh, such songs! Silence, who lay
Torpid upon those wastes of level sand,
Stirred and grew human; from its shuddering reeds
Stole forth the crocodile, and birds of blood
Hung listening in the rich and burning air.
There are a number of poems about the Colossi of Memnon - two gigantic seated statues of the Pharaoh Ramasses II - are said to sing. They are found on the west bank of the River Nile at Luxor.