results of esisenbraun's ANE valentine contest

the results of the eisenbraun's sponsored ANE valentine greeting contest is out. see the weblink to eisenbrauns for all the winners and honourable mentions:

http://www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~~~VALENTINE

but here is the winning entry:


Egyptian Love Poem
by Sophie Harvey and Olivier Holmey
Undergraduates in Egyptology at Oxford


I love you.
I’m going to steal your heart
Because I am hungry for your love.
There is no other woman in my heart.
Unloose the bolt to your heart.
Dance with me till the land brightens.
You are my first, my end, my everything.

Heaven on earth is being in your embrace.
You are beautiful of face.
Your body is carved in alabaster.
I adore you like a flower or a star.
You are my first, my end, my everything.

I taste your lips and they are like a soft breeze.
I smell your perfume.
You are a goddess to me.
I was blind but with you I see.
I will take away your clothes
Because we wish to make love.
I breathe upon your body,
Making you tremble with exultation.
I kiss every place of your body.
You fill me with desire.
I will obey your every command.
I can’t stop loving you.
I love you.


Judge's comments:
What set this entry apart was the marvelous, hand-drawn (and, I suspect, hand burned) manuscript. As for the prize, Sophie and Olivier, you'll have to share—but if you're writing this sort of thing together, we suspect that won't be a problem.

The Prize:
Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs
by Michael V. Fox
Wisconsin, 1999. Paper. English.