Hello
everyone –
Since
the ancient Egyptian New Year took place yesterday (Thursday, August 29), what
better time could there be to reflect on the rich legacy of science, history,
and culture that Egypt has bequeathed to us? Gerald Massey (1828-1907), a
Victorian Egyptologist, penned this tribute to the ancient Egyptians and their
colossal achievements.
“Egypt”
by Gerald Massey (1882)
Egypt!
How I have dwelt with you in dreams,
So
long, so intimately, that it seems
As
if you had borne me; though I could not know
It
was so many thousand years ago!
And
in my gropings darkly underground
The
long-lost memory at last is found
Of
motherhood – you mother of us all!
And
to my fellowmen I must recall
The
memory too; that common motherhood
May
help to make the common brotherhood.
Egypt!
It lies there in the far-off past,
Opening
with depths profound and growths as vast
As
the great valley of Yosemite;
The
birthplace out of darkness into day;
The
shaping matrix of the human mind;
The
cradle and the nursery of our kind.
This
was the land created from the flood,
The
land of Atum, made of the red mud,
Where
Num sat in his Teba throned on high,
And
saw the deluge once a year go by,
Each
brimming with the blessing that it brought,
And
by that waterway, in Egypt’s thought,
The
gods descended; but they never hurled
The
deluge that should desolate the world.
There
the vast hewers of the early time
Built,
as if that way they would surely climb
The
heavens, and left their labors without name –
Colossal
as their carelessness of fame –
Sole
likeness of themselves – that heavenward
Forever
look with statuesque regard,
As
if some vision of the eternal grown
Petrific,
was forever fixed in stone!
They
watched the moon re-orb, the stars go round,
And
drew the circle; thought’s primordial bound.
The
heavens looked into them with living eyes
To
kindle starry thoughts in other skies,
For
us reflected in the image-scroll,
That
night by night the stars for aye unroll.
The
royal heads of language bow them down
To
lay in Egypt’s lap each borrowed crown.
The
glory of Greece was but the afterglow
Of
her forgotten greatness lying low;
Her
hieroglyphics buried dark as night,
Or
coal deposits filled with future light,
Are
mines of meaning; by their light we see
Through
many an overshadowing mystery.
The
nursing Nile is living Egypt still,
And
as her lowlands with its freshness fill,
And
heave with double-breasted bounteousness,
So
doth the old hidden source of mind yet bless
The
nations; secretly she brought to birth,
And
Egypt still enriches all the earth.
And
here are some back-to-school poems that I recall from my own elementary school
days in the 1970s! J
“Back
to School” by Helen H. Moore
Summer's
almost gone now,
And
on the streets we see
School
buses filled with children
Where
ice cream trucks should be.
“Fall
Is Here” by Helen H. Moore
Fall
is here. Another year is coming to an end.
Summer’s
finished, summer’s gone, winter’s round the bend.
Fall
is piles of crunchy leaves, orange, gold, and red.
Fall
is sweaters with long sleeves and blankets on the bed.
Fall
is football, fall is pumpkins, fall’s where summer ends;
And
fall is coming back to school, and seeing all my friends.
Happy
Labor Day Weekend! J
Rob
