Rounded, "Wholed" Humanness

Nefertiti

"How long shall we speak to them
Of the goldness of mother, of differences without bane
How long shall we say another world lives
Not spinned on the axis of maleness
But rounded and wholed, charting through
Its many runnels its justice distributive."

Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, 1982
"On Reading an Archeological Article on Nefertiti's Reign and Ancient Egyptian Society," in Sew the Old Days and other Poems, 1982

For Val's Day: 5 Love Epics in Africa's History

Cleopatra's legacy has been vigorously contested, the subject of myth, embellishment, and propaganda 

“Forget what they say about money making the world go round - nations have risen and fallen on the account of a beautiful woman."

GOING by the contemporary narrative, love is something powerful, but fleeting and rather silly—with all it’s apparent expectations of dead plants, wax candles and whiny violins. But Valentine’s Day grouches, don’t despair. Love can be serious stuff too, it has been known to shape the course of whole nations:

Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt

One of the most mysterious and powerful women in ancient Egypt, Nefertiti was queen alongside Pharaoh Akhenaten from 1353 to 1336 BC.