In Honor of the Timelessness of Boys

In honor of Danya and my cousin Ned, I wish to offer the following Egyptian love poem. It just goes to show that boys haven't changed much at all in the last half-dozen or so millenia. ;-)

It is entitled (I kid you not): I Think I'll Go Home and Lie Very Still

I think I'll go home and lie very still,
feigning terminal illness.
Then the neighbors will all troop over to stare,
my love, perhaps, among them.
How she'll smile while the specialists
Snarl in their teeth! --

She perfectly well knows what ails me.

Translated by John L. Foster, Ancient Egyptian Literature (Texas: University of Texas Press, 2001), 25.

This is, to me, the last word in Egyptian free verse and boyish mischief. I dedicate it to Danya, who insists that he wants to propose to his future wife (what future wife?) with the Gaston Song, and to Ned, who was explaining to me today about the gaggle of (invisible) girls who find him irresistable.

Gentlemen, I salute you.