Ode To The Mega Of Thebes
In her teens the only female
Rower-for-rent on the Nile
Above the cataracts, known
More for voice than muscles.
A tongue capable of sounds
Never heard before or since,
Softer than a palmful of river
Or shriller than a scimitar;
Fingers longer than vipers
And of more insidious moves,
Continuous gestures of intent,
Rarely meaning what they say.
Once made the Nubian Desert
Crossing from Aswan to Berber
As guide to two dry Londoners.
No one knew where her water
Came from or why the English
Paid her double, then sent her
Down the Nile Cleopatra style,
Carried around the cataracts.
Her twenties were the richest
In appointments and payments,
Took to caching gold and cloth
From Kom Ombo to Alexandria.
The thirties added extra weight,
Some formidable folds of flesh
On the stomach to stifle agility,
Changed her manner of dancing.
Soon Turks dressed her in worry
As another dour Mahdi appeared,
Guided by the opposite of Allah,
One Tamir, Mega’s former patsy
From Minia, who could not forget
Transparent wraps of purple gauze
Below a whirl of green tarboosh,
Billowing pink trousers, scarlet toes;
Promised a pyramid of pleasure
Then delivered a worn-out sphinx.
The mandate for her decapitation
Cost Mega a tongue to rescind.
No trace of forties or fifties,
Appearing at last as anchoress,
Wrinkled beyond accurate guess,
Longbones crossed into solitude.
But two days of camel from Kena
A huddle could be found in a hole,
Fed by birds unknown to the desert,
Praying with a stub of existence.
A steady stream of seekers came
To see her nod or shake her head
At what they most wanted to know.
Legend says that’s all she drank.
Page(s) 130-131
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