Put up my lute! 1
What of－my Music!
Since the sole ear I cared to charm－
Passive－as Granite－laps My Music－
Sobbing－will suit－as well as psalm!
Would but the "Memnon" of the Desert－6
Teach me the strain
That vanquished Him－
When He－surrendered to the Sunrise－
Maybe－that－would awaken－them!
What of－my Music!
Since the sole ear I cared to charm－
Passive－as Granite－laps My Music－
Sobbing－will suit－as well as psalm!
Would but the "Memnon" of the Desert－6
Teach me the strain
That vanquished Him－
When He－surrendered to the Sunrise－
Maybe－that－would awaken－them!
(F.324/J.261)
[1–3] Put up, Music:: to stop the music, due to the wailing.
[4] Granite:: a wall, with Sobbing in line 5 to form the Wailing Wall (the Western Wall). laps:: absorbs.
[5] psalm:: a hint on Psalms. Some people say that both Psalms and the Western Wall are related to David. Sobbing:: Wailing.
[6] Memnon:: the Voice of Memnon, a sound generated by air throught fissures of the Colossi of Memnon.
[8] Him:: God.
[10] them:: people praying at the Wailing Wall.
. . . to the 'wailing wall,' and hear the Jews say their prayers, standing and wailing, confessing their sins, and entreating the Lord to pardon their offences, ─ The Jewish Advocate for the Young (1852)
Now this comparison is precisely that, which the ancients employed in speaking of the voice of Memnon. The French travellers thought like me, that the passage of ratified air through the fissures of a sonorous stone might have suggested to the Egyptian priests, to invent the juggleries of the Memnonium. ─ Personal Narrative of Travels (1825)
