AFTER the fantasies of many a night,
After the deep desires of many a day,
Rejoicing as an ancient Eremite
Upon the desert’s edge at last I lay:
Before me rose, in wonderful array,
Those works where man has rivalled Nature most,
Those Pyramids, that fear no more decay
Than waves inflict upon the rockiest coast,
Or winds on mountain-steeps, and like endurance boast.
Fragments the deluge of old Time has left
Behind it in its subsidence,—long walls
Of cities of their very names bereft,—
Lone columns, remnants of majestic halls,—
Rich-traceried chambers, where the night-dew falls,—
All have I seen with feelings due, I trow,
Yet not with such as these memorials
Of the great unremembered, that can show
The mass and shape they wore four thousand years ago.
[Extract from The Burden of Egypt]
The Great Pyramids of Giza, in Cairo, are stupendous tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs. They have provided inspiration to writers for millenia and there are many poems about the Pyramids, and travellers throughout the centuries have written about the ancient county of Egypt.
The Pyramids of Giza, subject of many poems