Fragment II
251 Words
Fragment IIThe air grows hot and oppressive. A faint scent of myrrh and incense, the mellow distant strain of the sistrum, bring before my weary eyes visions of the happy times when first I knew and loved thy mother. Oh, my son, she was beautiful! All the gods must have rejoiced the day that she was born. Not tall, but lithe, and with cheeks as smooth as the polished granite; but my pen fails me, and I am blinded with unshed tears, when I would try to tell thee of the glories of her eyes. They were large and deep, and vainly did I strive for years to read what lay hidden therein, whilst he came, and read in one hour. Oh, holy mother Isis, grant me the boon to die in peace, and not with a curse upon my lips!
We were very happy, she and I, especially after thou wert born. She loved thee tenderly, and would sit for hours spinning and weaving the daintiest garments for thy wee body, singing the while as gay and merry as a bird.
I was much employed then in the decoration of the new temple to Set which Pharaoh caused to be built within the city. I was a skilled artisan, and my work was much praised and admired; even the high priest once deigned to tell me that it was good, and I believe that Sethos himself, the mighty Pharaoh, asked who had fashioned those beautiful figures on the wall.
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