Handmaiden to the Princess,

Daughter of The Pharaoh

(The Moses Trilogy)

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!