I wandered through the galleries to pass an hour or so
With time to kill I browsed until my mind was still as stone
The ages drifted through my gaze like clouds across a sky
Until I passed a case of glass and something held my eye
A painted coffin and within, in tattered rags and tar
The residue of one who knew a younger sun by far
Her name, it said, was Amunet who’d lived in Abydos
Beneath the gaze of granite kings and chiselled wings of gods
The kohl-blacked eyes upon the lid drew mine into their depth
My lips, unconscious, shaped the spell, the name of Amunet
And as I stood and breathed her in for one short space of time
I knew her laughter, knew her tears that taste the same as mine
For five brief steps I walked with her, that small warm hand in mine
For five brief steps I walked with her the fading path of time
Then cursed the text that happened next and woke me as it chimed
And blew her like a pinch of dust beyond the reach of mind
