The Dead Man Ariseth and Singeth a Hymn to the Sun

Homage to thee, O Ra, at thy tremendous rising!
Thou risest! Thou shinest! the heavens are rolled aside!
Thou art the King of Gods, thou art the All-comprising,
From thee we come, in thee are deified.

Thy priests go forth at dawn; they wash their hearts with laughter;
Divine winds move in music across thy golden strings.
At sunset they embrace thee, as every cloudy rafter
Flames with reflected color from thy wings.

Thou sailest over the zenith, and thy heart rejoices;
Thy Morning Boat and Evening Boat with fair winds meet together;
Before thy face the goddess Maat exalts her fateful Feather,
And at thy name the halls of Anu ring with voices.

O Thou Perfect! Thou Eternal! Thou Only One!
Great Hawk that fliest with the flying Sun!
Between the Turquoise Sycamores that risest, young for ever,
Thine image flashing on the bright celestial river.

Thy rays are on all faces; Thou art inscrutable.
Age after age thy life renews its eager prime.
Time whirls its dust beneath thee; thou art immutable,
Maker of Time, thyself beyond all Time.

Thou passest through the portals that close behind the night,
Gladdening the souls of them that lay in sorrow.
The True of Word, the Quiet Heart, arise to drink thy light;
Thou art To-day and Yesterday; Thou art To-morrow!

Homage to thee, O Ra, who wakest life from slumber!
Thou risest! Thou shinest! Thou radiant face appears!
Millions of years have passed, --we cannot count their number,--
Millions of years shall come. Thou art above the years!

--The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!

Beautiful Nature's Own onyx household items, including bowls, wine goblets, vases, and a mortar and pestle, are available in our online store, for the rock lover in all of us!

Windows to the Universe Community

News

Opportunities

You might also be interested in:

The Earth Scientist, Volume XXVI, Issue 2, Summer 2010

Our 2010 Summer issue of The Earth Scientist includes six articles dealing with various aspects of Earth Science. An article from NOAA details how lake effect snow can, under the right conditions, actually occur on the narrow Mississippi River....more

Our Poetic Planet: Poems that Describe the Earth

What’s the weather like? Ask a poet! Poetry about weather and other aspects of Earth can be very descriptive. Giving a sense of the environment through their words, poets describe the planet in interesting...more

Clouds in Art

Landscape painters have been representing clouds in their art for centuries. Different artists with different styles have painted clouds differently. What's more, there are many different types of clouds...more

The Sky is Low, The Clouds Are Mean, a poem by Emily Dickinson

The Sky Is Low, The Clouds Are Mean The sky is low, the clouds are mean, A travelling flake of snow Across a barn or through a rut Debates if it will go. A narrow wind complains all day How some one treated...more

Water, a poem by Pablo Neruda

Water Everything on the earth bristled, the bramble pricked and the green thread nibbled away, the petal fell, falling until the only flower was the falling itself. Water is another matter, has no direction...more

When The Sun Come After Rain, a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

When The Sun Come After Rain When the sun comes after rain And the bird is in the blue, The girls go down the lane Two by two. When the sun comes after shadow And the singing of the showers, The girls...more

Spellbound, a poem by Emily Brontë

The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare boughs weighed with snow. And the storm is fast...more

The Cloud, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet...more

Shop Windows to the Universe

The Fall 2010 issue of The Earth Scientist, sponsored by MII/SME, focuses on rocks and minerals. Check out the other publications in our online store, as well as classroom materials.

Generous sponsorship of Windows to the Universe is provided by the Hewlett Foundation, the American Geological Institute, the American Geophysical Union, the National Science Foundation, NASA, NCAR, and the CISM and CMMAP projects. NASA CMMAP AGU CISM NCAR Hewlett AGI NSF