It flows through old hushed Egypt and its sands, 
Like some grave mighty thought threading a dream, 
And times and things, as in that vision, seem 
Keeping along it their eternal stands,-- 
Caves, pillars, pyramids, the shepherd bands 
That roamed through the young world, the glory extreme 
Of high Sesostris, and that southern beam, 
The laughing queen that caught the world's great hands. 
Then comes a mightier silence, stern and strong, 
As of a world left empty of its throng, 
And the void weighs on us; and then we wake, 
And hear the fruitful stream lapsing along 
'Twixt villages, and think how we shall take 
Our own calm journey on for human sake.