My Nile Queen

She brightens a room the way fresh flowers brighten a table’s centerpiece. I can see all the happiness in the world when I watch her. Her long dark brown hair flows past her shoulders nearly to her waist. Its full and rich and very straight. Her long locks are full of luster. They have a sable sheen, almost the look of fine mink. When the wind picks up, her hair lifts off her shoulders like a long silk banner mounted on top of a tall poll. Her hair is the perfect frame for her heart-shaped faced and piercing almond shaped eyes. Her eyes are as dark as her hair. So dark, in fact, that in the right light I can’t tell the difference between the color of her eyes and the pupils that the color surrounds. The small beauty mark on her cheek directly below her left eye accents her riveting stare. Sometimes, when she looks at me, I think I can see clear through to tomorrow.

Add to her eyes her full lips and precise jaw line and it all equals classic beauty. Her most attractive feature has to be the nape of her neck; the line from behind her ear down to the front of her neck. I see her now and then with her head turned. When I see it I get flashes of her as an Egyptian queen floating down the Nile on a barge with servants attending her every whim.

Sometimes, to get my attention, she walks up next to me as quiet as a whisper and taps me gently on the arm. Her hands are small but warm and very soft. She has long delicate fingers that move with grace. Unlike my own hands, hers are completely unscarred. It could be the difference in age, or that I am a klutz, or more likely that she is not. Whatever the reason, having her hand in mine is always sure to make me as happy as a child with a popsicle on a summer afternoon.

Her voice rings like the delicate bells of a brass wind chime. I sometimes have to ask her to repeat herself because I get so lost in the sound of her voice that I don’t hear what she is saying. She gets irritated with me and puts her hands on her hips, tips her head to the left and looks at me the way someone would look at a new puppy that made a mess on the kitchen floor. It says, “I love you but I really want to slap you around right now.”

I know the look means she is mad at me. When she does it though, she is as cute as the day my eyes first had the privilege of beholding her; sweet, loving, adorable. Although not quite as innocent. I can’t help but smile at her. My Nile queen.