Tag: Ptolemy Dynasty

i have become

cleopatra upon her litter

 

exiled

 

carried aloft in a bed built for an inconvenient queen

above the melded glass sands of blood and grain

desert winds my howling comfort

 

cast out by a tyrant brother

ptolemy’s thirteenth incarnation

each generation more of a reason

he must die in the nile

 

little husband

and his geldings

 

i am chained by the ankle for you

to this land

these people

we are egypt

 

through my opium haze

i see my blessed alexandria

and pray before jackal headed gods

to return me from this death

 

my eyes follow the light

of the marble watch tower

emanating from the isle of pharos

 

ancient port

 

deliver me guidance and knowing papyrus

so that i may find my way

to the great whore mother streets

her libraries

and temples built

 

i shall seduce caesar and his army

if the gods make it so

 

resurrect the statue of me