from THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT edited by William Kelly Simpson

The mouth of my girl is a lotus bud

Her breasts are mandrake apples

Her arms are vines

Her eyes are fixed like berries

Her brow a snare of willow

And I the wild goose!

              ***

I let you hear my voice lamenting

For my myrrh-anointed beauty

And you were with me there.

               ***

The love of my sister lies on yonder side,

And the river is between us;

A crocodile waits on the sandbank

Yet I’ll go down to the water,

I’ll head into the waves.

               ***

She whose excellence shines, whose body glistens,

Glorious her eyes when she stares,

Sweet her lips when she converses,

She says not a word too much.

High her neck and glistening her nipples,

Of true lapis her hair,

Her arms finer than gold,

Her fingers like lotus flowers unfolding.

Her buttocks droop when her waist is girt,

Her legs reveal her perfection;

Her steps are pleasing when she walks the earth,

She takes my heart in her embrace.

               ***

I praise the Golden Goddess,

I exalt Her Majesty,

I raise high the Lady of Heaven,

I make praise for Hathor,

And chants for my Mistress.