Oh for a view, as from that cloudless height Where the great Patriarch gazed upon the world, His offspring's future seat, back on the vale Of years departed! We might then behold Thebes, from her sleep of ages, awful rise, Like an imperial shadow, from the Nile, To airy harpings;[160] and with lifted torch Scatter the darkness through the labyrinths Of death, where rest her kings, without a name, And light the winding caves and pyramids 10 In the long night of years! We might behold Edom, in towery strength, majestic rise, And awe the Erithraean, to the plains Where Migdol frowned, and Baal-zephon stood,[161] Before whose naval shrine the Memphian host And Pharaoh's pomp were shattered! As her fleets From Ezion went seaward, to the sound Of shouts and brazen trumpets, we might say, 18 How glorious, Edom, in thy ships art thou, And mighty as the rushing winds! But night Is on the mournful scene: a voice is heard, As of the dead, from hollow sepulchres, And echoing caverns of the Nile--So pass The shades of mortal glory! One pure ray From Sinai bursts (where God of old revealed His glory, through the darkness terrible That sat on the dread Mount), and we descry Thy sons, O Noah! peopling wide the scene, From Shinar's plain to Egypt.

30 Let the song Reveal, who first "went down to the great sea In ships," and braved the stormy element.
THE SONS OF CUSH.[162] Still fearful of the FLOOD, They on the marble range and cloudy heights Of that vast mountain barrier,--which uprises High o'er the Red Sea coast, and stretches on With the sea-line of Afric's southern bounds To Sofala,--delved in the granite mass Their dark abode, spreading from rock to rock 40 Their subterranean cities, whilst they heard, Secure, the rains of vexed Orion rush.
Emboldened they descend, and now their fanes On Egypt's champaign darken, whilst the noise Of caravans is heard, and pyramids In the pale distance gleam.

Imperial THEBES Starts, like a giant, from the dust; as when Some dread enchanter waves his wand, and towers And palaces far in the sandy wilds Spring up: and still, her sphinxes, huge and high, 50 Her marble wrecks colossal, seem to speak The work of some great arm invisible, Surpassing human strength; while toiling Time, That sways his desolating scythe so vast, And weary havoc murmuring at his side, Smite them in vain.

Heard ye the mystic song Resounding from her caverns as of yore?
Sing to Osiris,[163] for his ark No more in night profound Of ocean, fathomless and dark, 60 Typhon[164] has sunk! Aloud the sistrums ring-- Osiris!--to our god Osiris sing!-- And let the midnight shore to rites of joy resound! Thee, great restorer of the world, the song Darkly described, and that mysterious shrine That bore thee o'er the desolate abyss, When the earth sank with all its noise! So taught, The borderers of the Erithraean launch'd Their barks, and to the shores of Araby 70 First their brief voyage stretched, and thence returned With aromatic gums, or spicy wealth Of India.

Prouder triumphs yet await, For lo! where Ophir's gold unburied shines New to the sun; but perilous the way, O'er Ariana's[165] spectred wilderness, Where ev'n the patient camel scarce endures The long, long solitude of rocks and sands, Parched, faint, and sinking, in his mid-day course.
But see! upon the shore great Ammon[166] stands-- 80 Be the deep opened! At his voice the deep Is opened; and the shading ships that ride With statelier masts and ampler hulls the seas, Have passed the Straits, and left the rocks and GATES OF DEATH.[167] Where Asia's cape the autumnal surge Throws blackening back, beneath a hollow cove, Awhile the mariners their fearful course Ponder, ere yet they tempt the further deep; Then plunged into the sullen main, they cast The youthful victim, to the dismal gods 90 Devoted, whilst the smoke of sacrifice Slowly ascends: Hear, King of Ocean! hear, Dark phantom! whether in thy secret cave Thou sittest, where the deeps are fathomless, Nor hear'st the waters hum, though all above Is uproar loud; or on the widest waste, Far from all land, mov'st in the noontide sun, With dread and lonely shadow; or on high Dost ride upon the whirling spires, and fume 100 Of that enormous volume, that ascends Black to the skies, and with the thunder's roar Bursts, while the waves far on are still: Oh, hear, Dread power, and save! lest hidden eddies whirl The helpless vessels down,--down to the deeps Of night, where thou, O Father of the Storm, Dost sleep; or thy vast stature might appear High o'er the flashing waves, and (as thy beard Streamed to the cloudy winds) pass o'er their track, And they are seen no more; or monster-birds 110 Darkening, with pennons lank, the morn, might bear The victims to some desert rock, and leave Their scattered bones to whiten in the winds! The Ocean-gods, with sacrifice appeased, Propitious smile; the thunder's roar has ceased, Smooth and in silence o'er the azure realm The tall ships glide along; for the South-West Cheerly and steady blows, and the blue seas Beneath the shadow sparkle; on they speed, The long coast varies as they pass from cove 120 To sheltering cove, the long coast winds away; Till now emboldened by the unvarying gale, Still urging to the East, the sailors deem Some god inviting swells their willing sails, Or Destiny's fleet dragons through the surge Cut their mid-way, yoked to the beaked prows Unseen! Night after night the heavens' still cope, That glows with stars, they watch, till morning bears Airs of sweet fragrance o'er the yellow tide: 130 Then Malabar her green declivities Hangs beauteous, beaming to the eye afar Like scenes of pictured bliss, the shadowy land Of soft enchantment.