Sheshat Lady of the Library

The Song of Seshat

By Charlotte Babb

They have forgotten my name But I remember They call me The Female Scribe As though I was not The Original One who invented writing at the beginning Who taught Djeuty to write That baboon Not the "Thrice-Great One" Ibis So revered of the Greeks Foremost in the Library, indeed My pupil became my father-spouse-brother Thus the Moon loses his face and Nut bears her five children On the five days added to the year. And I am divided against myself the Great and the Small To hedge their bets Do they not remember the Letter and the Spirit The Words and the Meaning? Forgotten, with no priests to call my name I teach the pharaoh to face his fate How to be born of the Mind How to bear the weight of the Crown and the Eye How to negotiate with those who come through me Foremost in the House of Foreigners I measure his reign by the words of Ra I record his deeds Measure his spoils of war His inundations of the Nile And the number of hairs on his head His name is known Because I have recorded it on my palm leaf On the Ished Tree of Life His years are long, As many as the tadpoles in the flood Because I have written it so. Yet he forgets my name, calling me only Mother Mistress of Builders I taught my priests to measure the polar star To find true north when no star pointed the way The King himself Stretches the Cord Marking the foundations of temples To other gods and his tomb But only with my help Offerings to me are laid In the foundations The builders know me They honor me with the talismans of the tools of their trade Because I am the one who makes the building stand In this physical world, and in the unseen world I am the Lady of the City of Eight, The Birthplace of the Gods But in the condominiums of the gods They forget my name They don't remember Why I wear the leopard skin of the blessed dead Of the funerary priests With its markings of the myriad stars of Nut I am the mother of the dead The soul passes through my womb To be born again I am old, great-grandmother to Isis, Who lately came to me with her brother-husband In pieces so that I might Re-Member him I am the Mother of the Dead Bearing those who die into the next life Though she forgets my name She forgets on whom she called Though she stole the magical name of Ra Yet, I know, both his Name and Mine. The mourner who remembers But they forget my name and Why my cartouche is the… What? A seven-petaled flower? I am the Lady of the House of Books They would know that no such flower exists. If they would read what is in the Library I am the Right and True flower in the Hand of Ra The blue lotus of healing Have they also forgotten the number of months in the year, My feathered horns? It is then a marijuana leaf? Hemp that makes the cord The pharaoh and his vizier stretch? No, that cord is leather But they have forgotten Yet my builders know how to use A hempen rope to move the slabs of rock For I have taught them physics and geometry and engineering I am the Lady of the Builders Can my crown then be perhaps A star, and the horns of the crescent moon Although they look more like the horns of the Apis bull Or a bow? I am She of the Seven Horns, or She who Lays by the Two Horns Nine is my number, yet They do not know my name For I am she who counts the stars I am she who knows the Secrets The Lady of Years The Lady of Fate I am she who writes the deeds of the world Recording them forever in my library of wisdom Many call me by many names Some call me Oyá, and they bring me nine flowers, the color purple Some call me lwa Ayizan, the female priest, Who keeps the tradition with her palm leaves, as I do Some call me St. Clare of Assisi, who was given a palm branch on Palm Sunday Saint Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower, who wrote much and loved flowers. Golden they call me Great of Magic The Lady of Heaven The Eye of RA— As if we goddesses were all the same As if they cannot remember our names Nit, Au Set, Hat-Hor, Hekt and Wadjet are my sisters, Makers of Magic: Secret, Hidden, the Mysteries With Nit the Creatrix and Nekt-Hebt the Death Mother I am Time, Existence, History, and Memory Egypt lives because I remember And I remember I remember Who I am I Remember My NAME My pen is Eternity, my ink is Forever As long as I remember Your name You will live

References
Djeuty. (2002) Houser of Netjer. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from
http://www.kemet.org/glossary/djehuty.html
Seshat. (2002) Houser of Netjer. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from
http://www.kemet.org/glossary/djehuty.html
Dean, D. (2002) Seshat: Names and Titles. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from
http://seshat.org/seshat/page2.html
Dean, D. (2002).Seshat: Names and Titles. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from
http://seshat.org/seshat/page3.html
Dean, D. (2002) Seshat: Symbols. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from
http://seshat.org/seshat/page3.html
Dean, D. (2002) Seshat: Functions. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from
http://seshat.org/seshat/page4.html
Dean, D. (2002) Seshat: Connections. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from
http://seshat.org/seshat/page5.html
Seshat (n.d.) September 28, 2005 from http://membres.lycos.fr/anacharsis/seshat.html
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