Wedding of the Sisters
Came like a rapture of rest upon Thebes, the overthronged city,
Then did the handmaids of Isis meet on the roof of the temple;
Vestured in white, they enringed a bowl of glittering copper.
Brimful of water, it shone, the mighty bowl on its tripod.
Oft was it used so, because in the stars it mirrored could women
Skilled in star-cunning divine the joys and griefs of the future.
Then did the handmaids of Isis meet on the roof of the temple;
Vestured in white, they enringed a bowl of glittering copper.
Brimful of water, it shone, the mighty bowl on its tripod.
Oft was it used so, because in the stars it mirrored could women
Skilled in star-cunning divine the joys and griefs of the future.
Then did the eldest priestess, the ninety-year Bent-Amenemma,
Heavily rise. On her breast a beaten-gold image of Isis
Gleamed. From her tenderest years for that moonlight faith she had striven,
Chaste and inviolate law of the pure, the gentle-eyed Isis.
Strictly she governed the rest. Through the city,—nay, throughout Egypt,—
Flew the insulting words that her savage tongue had been hurling
Long against Hator-Secket, the Goddess of Pleasure. She bowed her
Silently over the bowl and read in the fate-written water.
Heavily rise. On her breast a beaten-gold image of Isis
Gleamed. From her tenderest years for that moonlight faith she had striven,
Chaste and inviolate law of the pure, the gentle-eyed Isis.
Strictly she governed the rest. Through the city,—nay, throughout Egypt,—
Flew the insulting words that her savage tongue had been hurling
Long against Hator-Secket, the Goddess of Pleasure. She bowed her
Silently over the bowl and read in the fate-written water.
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