John Le Gay Brereton

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Sonnets Of Old Egypt Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B CDDCCDDCEFGEFG A H IJJIIJJIKLMKLM A L JLLJJLLJLJJLJJ N NJJNNJJNOAPOAP J QJJQQJJQRJLRJL

IA
-
The SphinxB
-
The spires of sand spring up at every gustC
That bids them dance and scatter and lays them lowD
He sits impassive as the ages flowD
And bear superbly the mirage of lustC
The moonbright steel he has witnessed redden and rustC
He has seen storm proud deep rooted empires growD
And watched victorious gods flash forth and goD
And still before him spins the aspiring dustC
What has he seen in that hoar centuried landE
More strange and dreadful in its long delightF
Of vain hope haunted ever starting questG
Than I can follow across this burning sandE
Wherefrom the dizzying phantoms take their flightF
Within the compass of a wanderer's breastG
-
IIA
-
Nicholson Museum ExhibitH
-
The curious look and pass beholding naughtI
But yellow skin and small contorted toesJ
I see a burning wilderness of woesJ
And stagger through its quivering air distraughtI
I know the paradise a baby wroughtI
Of old where still the dear blue river flowsJ
And there's a crouching fear within that knowsJ
To what a desperate havoc it was broughtI
Dear Isis have you not heard Horus singK
His infant ditties kissed his radiant headL
And laughed at legs that learned to leap and runM
Forget it not My heart in offeringK
Lies bare before you take it Queen and spreadL
Thy sheltering wings about my little sonM
-
IIIA
-
NefertL
-
The gaudy pageant of the ages hiesJ
Down the dim years yet many a look is castL
That calls us dumbly from the abysmal pastL
In love that lives amid a world that diesJ
I thrill to look on Nefert's friendly eyesJ
Mad to recall the night I saw her lastL
And yet across that memory has the blastL
Whirled the deep desert sand of centuriesJ
Forgive if I forget thee now my sweetL
If other eyes have led me to the sourceJ
Wherefrom the thirsting heart draws sustenanceJ
Can pallid marble feel my pulses beatL
We approach the limit of our dusty courseJ
When hearts must live on store of old romanceJ
-
IV-
-
ShuN
-
Spread on the desert Seb of mighty thewN
Felt cloudy hair trailed by the evening breezeJ
Tingling along each nerve as by degreesJ
Nut bowed above him till his brown arms drewN
Her body upon his so all night throughN
The desert bloomed in starry ecstasiesJ
Till even as she sighed in overburdened easeJ
Between them thrust the radiant arm of ShuN
Yet they are of the gods and evermoreO
Their joy renews itself when earth and skyA
Are all one substance in the odorous gloomP
But when two lovers drain their little storeO
Of mortal bliss and yet are thirsting whyA
Inflict on us thy peremptory doomP
-
V-
-
KhonsuJ
-
Have I not smiled and kept the world at bayQ
Given my friends the joy that dried my tearsJ
And left a savour of salt and filled the yearsJ
With desolate wreckage of each yesterdayQ
O Khonsu with uplifted hands I prayQ
O Master of Love give respite to my fearsJ
Before the dust is in my eyes and earsJ
Grant me thy light upon the darkening wayQ
He gazes mildly from the crescent moonR
The sea grows silent and its shimmering spaceJ
Is wave upon wave of sand beyond all sightL
I stretch my arms to take whate'er the boonR
And feel imagined kisses on my faceJ
Lonely amid the desert of the nightL

John Le Gay Brereton



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