The Egyptian

by Mika Waltari

It was as if my whole self were being burned away to ashes by her body.

such an agony of despair that my heart felt like an open wound from which my life’s blood was ebbing away.

Life is a searing flame, death the dark waters of oblivion.

A man cannot be measured by the color of his skin, or by his speech, or by his clothes and jewels, but only by his heart.