Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Francis SaltusSaltus

1023 The Sphinx Speaks

CARVED by a mighty race whose vanished hands

Formed empires more destructible than I,

In sultry silence I forever lie,

Wrapped in the shifting garment of the sands.

Below me, Pharaoh’s scintillating bands

With clashings of loud cymbals have passed by,

And the eternal reverence of the sky

Falls royally on me and all my lands.

The record of the future broods in me;

I have with worlds of blazing stars been crowned,

But none my subtle mystery hath known

Save one, who made his way through blood and sea,

The Corsican, prophetic and renowned,

To whom I spake, one awful night alone!