Leon Dessau

In Dutch: De grafgedichten van koningin Neferusobek

Dutch translation and comment on poems by Neferusobek (Scemiophris),
the first known archeologically attested female Pharaoh, daughter of Amenemhat IV
Originally published in German language by egyptologist Hedwig Brühl,
discovered by Leon Dessau in Lübeck, Germany, in 2024

Year of publication: 2026

Poem III

As I hear the gates close
It is terrible to realize that this room has no doors
Because I am ignorant and grope in the dark
Not recognizing the shapes of the sacred keys
Oh, if only I knew their names, I would call upon them

Then the secret door obeys In a wall that is still unyielding
Separating me from the light of the Eye of Ra
By touch, I feel only the cracks between the stones
And hieroglyphs telling me this is the tomb

I could almost read the sacred names
For ignorance is not
Not knowing what to do
I don’t know what for what purpose
Not knowing a name, seeing no way out

– pharaoh Scemiophris, mid-18th century BC
Translation from German into English by Leon Dessau, 2025