Dignity 1
Susan Butler
I have wrapped myself in cinnamon and cedar.
I have filled my body with honey drunk by moonlight.
My feet are oiled, henna stained with lotus blossoms, my hands swarm with bees.
I have eaten gold and opened the eye, borne on the backs of blue scarabs
who summon me Star of Egypt.
Recounting the days when I was bought and sold,
I throw your lies back to you from the scale, one by one by one,
until my ears ring with the song of all womxn before and after.
Floating like myrrh, I stretch my open body to the bright stars,
to the immortals,
and now I am sure you can never touch me.
Knowing what I know now
I would never let you enslave me
as the price for beautiful days
not even to become the one I am.
Though you tore out my tongue and stole my fingers, yours was a secret I would not
keep.
Sah, the ancient Egyptian word for mummy, means dignity and nobility.
The Egyptians called the circumpolar stars the immortals because they were always
visible.
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