Here Lay The Osirians, Those Blessed Dead Of The Land Of Egypt, Who Worshipped The Judge Of The Dead, The Lord Of The Underworld, And Who Hoped For Immortality Through Him - Osiris, Husband Of Isis, Osiris, Receiver Of Prayers.

Osiris the sun who will not be conquered by night, but eternally rises again, and so is the symbol of the resurrection of the soul.

It is said that Set, the power of Evil, tore the body of Osiris into fourteen fragments and scattered them over the land. But multitudes of worshippers of Osiris believed him buried near Abydos and, like those who loved the sweet songs of Hafiz, they desired to be buried near him whom they adored; and so this place became a place of the dead, a place of many prayers, a white place of many longings.

I was glad to be alone there. The guardian left me in perfect peace. I happily forgot him. I sat down in the shadow of a column upon its mighty projecting base. The sky was blinding blue. Great bees hummed, like bourdons, through the silence, deepening the almost heavy calm. These columns, architraves, doorways, how mighty, how grandly strong they were! And yet soon I began to be aware that even here, where surely one should read only the Book of the Dead, or bend down to the hot ground to listen if perchance one might hear the dead themselves murmuring over the chapters of Beatification far down in their hidden tombs, there was a likeness, a gentle gaiety of life, as in the tomb of Thi.

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