Lion Head Mesa bird of paradise

she was grateful; she shattered the faience names of a hundred dead men who rolled in their painted tombs and she was grateful.
and pharaoh thought then, and piercingly, that her mother and his first love, one and the same; that he heard her laughter from over his shoulder, and smelled the rich fragrance she had always worn.
he ordered her away with a flick of his tail.
and when pharaoh was alone, alone and staring at the sacrifice, two hot tears dripped once from his face and became one with the bleakened gore.