Poems that you love

[ellajam]

"I think I'll go home and lie very still"

I think I'll go home and lie very still,
                feigning terminal illness.
Then the neighbors will all troop over to stare,
                my love, perhaps, among them.
How she'll smile while the specialists
                           snarl in their teeth!--

                she perfectly well knows what ails me.

"Love, how I'd love to slip down to the pond"

Love, how I'd love to slip down to the pond,
                      bathe with you close by on the bank.
Just for you I'd wear my new Memphis swimsuit,
                      made of sheer linen, fit for a queen--
Come see how it looks in the water!

Couldn't I coax you to wade in with me?
                      Let the cool creep slowly around us?
Then I'd dive deep down
                      and come up for you dripping,
Let you fill your eyes
                      with the little red fish that I'd catch.

And I'd say, standing there tall in the shallows:
Look at my fish, love,
                      how it lies in my hand,
How my fingers caress it,
                      slip down its sides . . .

But then I'd say softer,
                      eyes bright with your seeing:
                                      A gift, love. No words.
                      Come closer and
                                      look, it's all me.

This one is lovely.

~ From "Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology," translated by John L. Foster. These poems date from the Ramesside Period (ca. 1292-1070 B.C.)