Egyptian religious poetry

VI. DEATH AND BURIAL

it

Wun the messenger [of death] comes to take thee away, let him

find thee prepared. Alas ! thou wilt have no opportunity for speech, for verily his terror will be before thee. Say not, “ Thou art taking me in my youth,” for thou knowest not when thy death will take place. Death comes and seizes the babe at the mother’s breast as well as the aged man. Observe this, for I speak unto thee good advice, which thou shouldest ponder in thy heart. [B.E.L., p. 229]

2

Att ye excellent nobles and ye gods of the Mistress of Life, hear ye! The land that hath no foe, all our kindred rest in it since the earliest day of time ; and they that shall be in millions of millions of years, they shall come hither, every one. There is none that may tarry in the land of Egypt ; there is not one that doth not pass yonder. The duration of that which is done upon earth isasa dream. Then “ Welcome, safe and sound ”, is said to him that reacheth the West. [EEL p. 253]

3 1 How prosperous is this good prince! It is a goodly destiny that bodies should diminish, passing away while others remain, since the time of the ancestors, the gods who were aforetime,

1 Song of the Harper (early version). 106