To Cleopatra on Her 16th Birthday

To Cleopatra on Her 16th Birthday

Hail O Queen
O Sailer of Rivers
O Temple Goddess
O Chosen One
O of O’s
Of all the O’s
Hail to Thee
On this—
Your sixteenth birthday

May the candles on your cake
Burn like the houses of your enemies
When the guards sought them out
And made them watch
As their scheming huts
And conspiracy tents
Were turned to ash

May the cake taste as fine
As the nectar
Rained down upon you
When you first born
A baby clad in happy tears
Shed by the gods

And may the presents
Be to your liking
Except for the one from your aunt
Which is probably
A gift certificate
Or a blouse
That won’t fit

May everything be perfection
On this day of days
When the sands creep up to the palace
And the crows fly overhead
And the whispers of enemies
Move behind our ears
And beyond our understanding

Peace be to you, Cleopatra
When other girls from school arrive
To see if your sixteenth birthday party
Can compare to theirs
May you have the grace
Not to have them arrested
And thrown into the darkest of dungeons
For surely you would be justified
In doing so

When the boy you like shows up
May you have the patience
To let him see the glory
That resides in every ember
Of your divine fire
And may he ask you to dance
Then kiss
Then marry
All before the night is through
For sixteen is the marrying age
Of all Egyptian queens
And so your time is nigh

As the revelers sing
Their songs to you
And the jugglers juggle
And the high priests
Say prayers
For luck
And love
And years and years
Of wealth and prosperity
May you begin to understand
That you are not just becoming
A woman of the world
But a woman
Who will change the world
And all who are in it

There are those
Who may choose
To watch your party from afar
Envious of your special prayers
And your cake
Made out of dozens
Of smaller cakes

They are the ones
Who carry the sand
To your door

They are the enemies
Who escaped
The burning houses
And ran into the desert
Like cowards
So they could continue
To plot
And plan
Believing that you are a mistake
And that no god
Would put a woman
So close to Heaven

But mark me, Cleopatra
You are no mistake, my girl

You are the skin
That sand will never touch

You are the soul
Through which darkness
Will never pass

You are sixteen
And you will have
Your party

And when a snake slithers in
And you reach to pick it up
I will pull you back
And lightly admonish you
Fetching one of your guards
To chop off the head
Of the uninvited guest
Knowing full well
That was the not the only needle
You can prick your finger on

But lo, I have followed you
All these sixteen years
And I cannot follow anymore

When you reach to touch something that may sting
It could sting
And when you try to love someone who can betray you
He may betray you
And when the sand arrives on your next birthday
It may make it all the way up to your eyes
Before you even see it’s there

There are so many things in life
That can only be left up to the gods

And I am no god

I am your mother
I am your sister
I am your aunt

You are Cleopatra
And loving you will come at as great a cost

As love has ever known

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