workers, not stone miners. Regardless we had to compromise; there was no other choice. I followed the footsteps of the remaining few in front of me. I looked up and stared ahead. Swarthy, fatigued faces blemished by dust and sand awaited. The scanty few had seemingly been slaving for Neshi for quite some time. Many of them had their hands bandaged in blood-stained strips of fabric torn from the kilts they wore. Neshi loomed in the background and began to dispatch his orders.
“Move your hides and show me your worthiness!” Men turned around and looked at him with hatred. Neshi appeared slightly surprised at this sudden and unexpected act. Hitherto no one had attempted to intimidate him. “Are you feeling ill my good man?” Neshi began to challenge Men with sarcasm.
“I shall live!” Men grunted, turning away. The overseer hovered over him with a grimace, displaying his reigning superiority.
He drove his face against my uncle’s ear and whispered cynically. “If you show intolerance towards me again I will make certain that you rot alive in those pits below you.” He stood back sneering with his arms crossed. Again Men attempted hard to ignore him by concentrating on the frayed rope that lay limp in the compacted dirt like a dormant serpent. Then a voice yelled from the pit and our hands sank to find a grip on the entangled reed cord. My eyes followed its length snaking over the edge … and then it tightened and we felt a tug. It was going to take a synchronised effort to haul the load up to our dusty feet. The slightest imbalance could have resulted in a tumbling catastrophe. A falling-block of such proportions would crush a human like an insect.
We stood hard, sturdy on our feet with our arms extended waiting for the final word.
“Sedjem-wi!” bellowed the foremost man in our line. The rope tightened as an unbearable weight hinged on its other end.
“Tiw!” We shouted back. Simultaneously our hands pulled with all our might. I could feel every limb of my tortured body, every muscle tearing. I gasped for air to maintain my strength. The rope heaved past my waist over and over again. Just as my weakened body was on the verge of shattering I heard a rocky grind beyond the edge of the plateau. The tension in my hand finally slackened and I exhaled my overexertion. The gruelling effort did not last long but it was strenuous, and for that reason, it felt like an eternity. I could not imagine how I would tolerate the continuation of such toil. There was no choice - I either adapted to the hard labour or I would waste away into the arid land. I was truly damned.
Men gazed at Neshi who stood partially impressed. The Overseer chuckled and walked away. Men showed his despise with a hard spit in the dirt.
The day was long and exhausting. Ra had passed over the body of the great sky goddess Newt. He was finally entering her mouth and blackness would cover Kemet. Every night the sun god would journey through the body of Newt, and in the morning she would give birth to Ra once again. I too would be reborn in the coming day, after my body had rejuvenated during the night. The orchestra of snoring and whimpering did not bother me for I was accustomed to the sounds of exhaustion and suffering. We had gathered around the marshy oasis to rest under a starry sky. I lay on my reed mat beside Men and another young labourer like myself, Rensi son of Meru. He was born into a long generation of miners from a small settlement near the old capital of Amunemhaat-iti-tawi. Like his late father and his father before him, one-day Rensi was destined to befall the same fate … and like his forebears, his name will be forgotten forever. It was inevitable, none of us were immune to the dark blanket of oblivion. Our work, however, would be admired for a thousand years to come but those whose blood and sweat made it be - their names … our names will never be uttered again. It was a miserable fate but we had accepted it.
I could hear conversations among established workers mocking the newcomers and Neshi’s ruthless attitude towards them. To their advantage, Men had not heard their tasteless remarks as he was fast asleep. I, on the other hand, did not care. My drowsy eyes gazed into the blackness of the sky, admiring the clusters of stars like countless needle holes littered across a dark veil. As always, in my moments of solitude, my foolish heart revived the old and reminded me of the new memories, again and again. No matter how hard I tried, I could never forget Tawri. As my eyelids gradually shut, visions of her enchanting beauty stared back at me. After many seasons away I had finally laid eyes upon her once again. It was, perhaps, for the last time. There was no escape from the feelings I held for her. Soon I would see her again … but only in my dreams.
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