Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals,

like water stirred into flour for bread,

Like simples compound in a sweet-tasting drug,

like pastry and honey mixed to perfection,

Oh, hurry to look at your love!

Be like horses charging in battle,

Like a gardener up with the sun

burning to watch his prize bud open.

High heaven causes a girl’s lovelonging.

It is like being too far from the light,

Far from the hearth of familiar arms.

It is this being so tangled in you.

Ancient Egyptian Poetry (1300-1100 bc)

Translation by John L Foster