Egyptian religious poetry

104 EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS POETRY

14

PRAYER FOR BUCHIS, THE DIVINE BULL OF HERMONTHIS

On this day the Majesty of this noble God went up to heaven as Ré the Old. Mayest thou traverse the earth, mayest thou be united with the Disk [of the Sun], and may the rays of Ré be beautiful on thy body. May Amon breathe forth sweet air into thy nostrils, and may thy nostrils inhale the goodly north wind without its ever leaving thee. Mayest thou be glorious, mayest thou be powerful, may thy soul be established, mayest thou grow young like the Moon. Mayest thou pass through the holy cities, mayest thou traverse the temples of the gods at their festivals. The Soul of the Sun-god shall cause thy soul to live, the soul of the God of Light shall endue thy nostrils. Mayest thou see the Eternal when he shines forth by day, and the Everlasting when he enters in at night. Mayest thou live in the House of Atum, and not perish for ever. _[B.F.B., ii, p. 12]

)

TRIUMPH-SONG OF ISIS FOR HER SON HORUS WHEN HE DEFEATED SETEKH ?

RgJOIcE, ye women of Pé and Dep, ye townsfolk beside the marshes. Come and see Horus in the prow of his ship, like Ré when he shineth in the horizon, arrayed in green cloth, clad

1 This bull lived during the reign of Cleopatra and died in the first year of the reign of Augustus.

2 Sung by the Queen in the character of the goddess in the mysteryplay performed in the temple of Horus of Edfu. Ptolemaic.