Heart of Carnelien

Sunrise at Alexandria

Heart of Carnelian
Mine is a heart of carnelian,
crimson as murder on a holy day.
Mine is a heart of cornel, the gnarled roots of a dogwood
and the bursting of flowers.

I am
the broken wax seal on my lover's letters.
I am
the red quartz in the deepest of mines.
I am
the phoenix, the fiery sun, consuming and resuming myself.

I pace the halls of the underworld.
I knock on the doors of death.
I wander into the fields to stare at the sun
and lie in the grass, ripe as a fig.
The souls of the gods are with me.
They hum like flies in my ears.
I am I. I will what I will.
Mine is heart of carnelian, blood red as the crest of a phoenix.

Egyptian Book of the Dead
Chapter 53
Translated by Normandi Ellis