from Mesopotamian Objects
4. Necklace
Dear Friend,
Send me a necklace of beads that few have ever seen, beads made of gold, electrum, precious stone or amber, which is the tears of the sun. Let each bead be of rare workmanship, round as a seed, angular as a crystal, or carved in the shape of a beetle or a bird. Let the thread be silk or a chain so fine that the links are invisible. Can human hands and eyes do this?
Wrap the necklace in a clean rag. Seal the wrapper with your seal, the device of the dragon, so that I will know it came from you. Give it to the messenger, the one we trust. He will bring it to me in good time.
I have not asked you for a gift until now. Do not deny me, since you are my friend. If you have no such necklace at hand, and if you cannot buy one in the market, dig in the ground. You of all people know where to look, in the graves of kings who died a thousand years ago.
When I wear this necklace, sly ones will smile. They will say that it must be valuable, that it suits me well. Envious, they will ask where it came from. I will say that you and only you could have sent it.
Robert Boucheron is an architect in Charlottesville, Virginia. His writing appears in Aldus Journal of Translation, Atticus Review, Bangalore Review, Cerise Press, Cossack, Conclave, Construction, Digital Americana, Gravel, Grey Sparrow Journal, Heavy Feather Review, IthacaLit, JMWW, Lowestoft Chronicle, Milo Review, Montreal Review.