[
  {
    "title": "Mother and sphinx",
    "author": "Eugene Field",
    "lines": [
      "(EGYPTIAN FOLK-SONG)",
      "",
      "Grim is the face that looks into the night",
      "Over the stretch of sands;",
      "A sullen rock in a sea of white--",
      "A ghostly shadow in ghostly light,",
      "Peering and moaning it stands.",
      "\"Oh, is it the king that rides this way--",
      "Oh, is it the king that rides so free?",
      "I have looked for the king this many a day,",
      "But the years that mock me will not say",
      "Why tarrieth he!\"",
      "",
      "'T is not your king that shall ride to-night,",
      "But a child that is fast asleep;",
      "And the horse he shall ride is the Dream-horse white--",
      "Aha, he shall speed through the ghostly light",
      "Where the ghostly shadows creep!",
      "\"My eyes are dull and my face is sere,",
      "Yet unto the word he gave I cling,",
      "For he was a Pharaoh that set me here--",
      "And, lo! I have waited this many a year",
      "For him--my king!\"",
      "",
      "Oh, past thy face my darling shall ride",
      "Swift as the burning winds that bear",
      "The sand clouds over the desert wide--",
      "Swift to the verdure and palms beside",
      "The wells off there!",
      "\"And is it the mighty king I shall see",
      "Come riding into the night?",
      "Oh, is it the king come back to me--",
      "Proudly and fiercely rideth he,",
      "With centuries dight!\"",
      "",
      "I know no king but my dark-eyed dear",
      "That shall ride the Dream-Horse white;",
      "But see! he wakes at my bosom here,",
      "While the Dream-Horse frettingly lingers near",
      "To speed with my babe to-night!",
      "And out of the desert darkness peers",
      "A ghostly, ghastly, shadowy thing",
      "Like a spirit come out of the mouldering years,",
      "And ever that waiting spectre hears",
      "The coming king!"
    ],
    "linecount": "41"
  }
]