Two Eyes Cenote ninety-ninth

a day of blessed rain.

Tefnut of the cool waters, golden bride of Shu,

water flowed down his scarlet shoulders; he stood high above muat-riya, his voice twisted in the wind's grasp, louder now, softer here.

i call to you, o soother of the fevered soul

thunder; thunder rolling as if from akashingo.

lady of the rains, daughter of bright-crowned Atum

he did not wish to go back; he sang more loudly, even as his heart longed in immaculate hunger for the redstone curves of that beautiful palace.

whose pleasure brought you into being, enthroned

pleasure; the ritual; he thought of nazli. he did not want to leave her, and yet as high priest, senmut understood too well the demands of balance.

you are with the great and noble nine whose names

her breath, mingling with the heat rising from her fur.

were called in love and prayer within the city

was it right to love her as much as he did? was it some flagrant disregard, that priest and priestess should join not only in rite but in adoration? what was the sum of love? what would they both repay the gods for this?

of the sun. O wise and gracious mother

perhaps for nazli's sake, he should return with swiftness to the place her absences would make empty. perhaps their power was not meant to blend so fully.

of star-strewn Nut and Geb of the fertile lands,

his heart ached; senmut sang louder;

I thank you for a life made good, I thank you

i thank you, i thank you, and he tasted the faint salt of his tears in the rainwater.

for your many blessings. Tefnut, I praise

this was the demand of balance, this breaking in his heart.

your kindness and your might, I pray for your favor.

rain, and rain, and rain, until it dappled with sunlight and the desert drank greedily down the small standing pools which had collected as senmut at last stopped, hoarsened, grieved.