Sun God--Ra

I lie on my back and the sun beats down
The sun of Egypt.

I lift my head and the heat haze swims–
Black worms crawl across my vision
Worker ants threaded like beads
Along the ropes that bind them
To the block of mountain stone.

And from afar the cracking whips are heard–
The screams, the shouts, the aching grunts
As every bead exerts its petty power
To bring the carvéd stone
To the man-created mountain.

Then thunder as across the baking sands–
The horses fly, chariot on chariot
And in their midst, Pharoah, King
So proud and bold, not fearing to create
His own death's tomb,
His doorway to eternity.