The Witch of Atlas by Percy Bysshe Shelley
page 22 of 29 (75%)
page 22 of 29 (75%)
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Egypt and Aethiopia, from the steep
Of utmost Axume, until he spreads, _500 Like a calm flock of silver-fleeced sheep, His waters on the plain: and crested heads Of cities and proud temples gleam amid, And many a vapour-belted pyramid. 58. By Moeris and the Mareotid lakes, _505 Strewn with faint blooms like bridal chamber floors, Where naked boys bridling tame water-snakes, Or charioteering ghastly alligators, Had left on the sweet waters mighty wakes Of those huge forms--within the brazen doors _510 Of the great Labyrinth slept both boy and beast, Tired with the pomp of their Osirian feast. 59. And where within the surface of the river The shadows of the massy temples lie, And never are erased--but tremble ever _515 Like things which every cloud can doom to die, Through lotus-paven canals, and wheresoever The works of man pierced that serenest sky With tombs, and towers, and fanes, 'twas her delight To wander in the shadow of the night. _520 60. With motion like the spirit of that wind Whose soft step deepens slumber, her light feet |
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