Hatshepsut: Woman-Pharoah
– Ancient Egyptian statue of Hatshepsut, shown in Spring, 2006
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Two thousand years of wind-packed sands
ripple to breaths
of a sun god.
Lion-warm grains
buffer crevices.
Rose-granite shards
wake in the dark.
Devoted fingers stroke with quills
soft brushes fine sieves
reconnect levels of girl-body
seated with royal bull’s tail
between thighs
restore a woman-face serene
round cheeks pointed chin
wearing the Pharaoh’s
signifying beard
full lips confident.
Gazers return --
sounds of shuffling leather
sandals sneakers
static-scratch of audioguides
and oddly silent children
damp fingers twisting
jacket hems of parents
deaf to wheezing breaths
of their little ones who stare
into eyes that have never known lids
following their steps
within risen temple walls.
– charlotte mandel