Pomegranate Flowers: NaPoWriMo 2022: Egyptian Palette

[4/28/2022]

I gaze on this little tool,

And I am full of wonder.

Wondering curiosity, and awe.

What hands first held it?

Whose name cartouched above?

Three thousand years and change

The pigments lasted,

Have their colors never changed?

What paintings bear the signature

Of that rusty red,

That glowing turquoise blue?

It is a little palette,

Perhaps intent on details

The painter crouched

Above papyrus scrolls,

Or even painted figures

On some noble wall.

I realize I am inadequate in history.

It is still mysterious to me

How old this really is,

Who ruled the land when it was made.

What was the world,

To the eye of this one painter?

And who kept his colors,

Unfinished, past his death?