Handmaiden to the Princess,

(Daughter of The Pharaoh)

Stephen W. Emerick

I have been asked

How that day was unlike

Any day since, to a lonely handmaiden living on the edge of town

In the service of the Princess, Daughter of the Pharaoh

And we were washed upon the shore of a new land

As I saw the basket brought by the wisps of wind

Now held among the reeds

While I was washing the Princess

And I was told to fetch the unknown and Lo!

A child released in basket onto the Nile. Imagine!

And so I was commanded, along with another brought later, to nurse the unknown

And that first night I said to my elder sister:

[And here the handmaiden says:]

I did not know until now

Imagine, imagine, my dear sister

Lowly handmaiden to the Princess

In service to the King and Queen

Nursing the unknown, my milk letting down

As snowmelt comes home to the sea

To this young child

And I knew for the first time

The Nile

Yes my dear sister!

The Nile

Flows through me!