19 Whatsoever is done in secret, thy eye seeth it,
20 O Baenra Meriamen,[530] merciful Lord, creator of breath.”
[This is not the language of a courtier. It seems to be a genuine expression of the belief that the King was the living representative of Deity, and from this point of view is much more interesting and remarkable than if treated as a mere outpouring of empty flattery.]
The Song Of The Harper
Translated by Ludwig Stern
The text of the following song, found in the tomb of Neferhetep at Abd-el-Gurnah, is a good specimen of Egyptian poetry of the eighteenth dynasty. It was first copied by Mr. Dümichen (“Historische Inschriften,” ii. 40), and subsequently by myself. In addition to a translation in the “Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache,” 1873, p. 58, I gave some critical observations in the same journal of 1875. Professor Lauth of Munich translated it in an appendix to his essay on the music of the ancient Egyptians.
The song is very remarkable for the form of old Egyptian poetry, which like that of the Hebrews delights in a sublimer language, in parallelisms and antitheses, and in the ornament of a burden; no doubt it was sung, and it seems to be even rhythmic, forming verses of equal length—
“Ured urui pu mā,
Pa shau nefer kheper