O lady, my heart

Translation by Anne Carson

The tenth muse: purple fig, sun-warmed thyme, rose resin, orris, olive oil, and myrrh.

Maatkare, the Good Goddess, Divine Daughter of Amun, sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, androgynous queen regnant who wore the uraeus-crowned Khat, traditional false beard, and the shendyt and bore the double crown as Mother and Father of Egypt. She sent five ships to the Land of Punt and brought back thirty-one living myrrh trees, their roots balled in soil, to be planted at the terraced temple of Deir el-Bahari, the Djeser-Djeseru. 

Her scent is imperial and vibrant, seizing back her power from those who would erase her: myrrh trees crossing the Red Sea in the hold of a ship, the dark smoke of kyphi drifting through limestone colonnades, ground frankincense and kohl, warm sand and blue lotus incense, cedarwood from Byblos, the dry resinous breath of obelisk granite in the sun, and a base of black amber and sacred anointing oil.

Sparkling shards of aldehyde-glowing mandarin, red musk, plum, bergamot, iron, smoky labdanum, and ink.

The Enchantress of Numbers, the First Programmer: bergamot and black tea, polished mahogany and silver filigree, and an electric clap of bottled lightning.