From earth cracked and parched,
your children emerge —
singing —
to greet the rain.
Their long sleep is over;
the world is full
of growing!
Meshkhenet and Renenutet process before you —
proclaiming —
while Khnum attends you,
his hands wet with clay.
All the people celebrate your coming;
the riverside is thick with reeds
where birds dwell.
My toes are in black mud,
that is becoming green.

[Lauren Messenger is a museum professional living in Seattle, and a Shemsu of the Kemetic Orthodox faith. She has a Master of Arts in Museology from the University of Washington. She likes to think deeply about time travel, digital technology as a tool for informal learning, mythology, ancient cookery, and Sherlock Holmes. Her poetry will also be published under the name Taqerisenu in the forthcoming Garland of the Goddess: Tales and Poems of the Feminine Divine.]