Helen in Egypt: Poetry

papyrus fragments,

travellers brought back,

as crude, primeval lettering

We were right. Helen herself denies an actual intellectual knowledge of the temple-symbols. But she is nearer to them than the instructed scribe; for her, the secret of the stone-writing is repeated in natural or human symbols. She herself is the writing.

but when the bird swooped past,

that first evening,

I seemed to know the writing,

How could I hide my eyes?

how could I veil my face?

with ash or charcoal from the embers?