In honor of it, I'm posting a copy of the text of an Egyptian Love Poem. I first heard it from Phillip Glass's Akhnaten
from Journal of Egyptian Archeology,
translated by Sir Alan Gardiner)
I breathe the sweet breath
that issues from thy mouth.
I behold thy beauty every day.
It is my desire to be rejuvenated with life
through love of thee.
Give me thy hands, holding thy spirit,
that I may receive it and partake of it.
Call thou my name unto eternity, and it shall never fail.
Of course, I remember the words a little differently. I think the breath should issue from lips instead of a mouth. Also, the French translation (included in the CD's libreto) "call thou my name" uses the word "vocci", which could be translated to "give voice to my name" or "invoke my name."
In slightly related news, Arthur has discovered the word "too." Lately, he's noticed my rings; he seems particularly enamoured with my wedding ring, and says, "Arthur wants a wedding ring, too."
When I tell him that he has to get married to someone to wear a wedding ring and ask him who he's going to marry, he scrunches up his face and says, "Hmmmm.... thinking...." His most surreal wedding partner to date has been "his head."
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